That is, psychological empathy, empathy, and awareness and understanding of other people's emotions and emotions by putting yourself in their shoes. It is mainly reflected in aspects related to emotional intelligence such as emotional self-control, perspective taking, listening ability, and expression of respect.
Two thousand years ago, Confucius' "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" is similar to empathy. Only by being able to understand the pain of others can we avoid harming others as much as possible and develop altruistic thinking and behavior. The cultivation and development of empathy are inseparable from the joint action of nature and nurture.

Innate causes of empathy

Rizzolatti and the research team named this specific nerve cell "mirror neuron." For example, Little A’s knee was injured and bleeding. Seeing this, my knee also ached. This is what “mirror neurons” do.
A series of studies on empathy and mirror neurons found that if a subject scores higher on an empathy test, his mirror neurons will be more active; conversely, if the mirror neuron circuit is not normal To play a role, with low scores on empathy tests, subjects may be unable to read other people's intentions, express emotions, and engage in prosocial behavior.

Causes of acquired empathy

Children who receive persuasion and induction training will have more mature moral development, which can promote children's empathy, empathy, and obedience to parents' requirements. children who often use the method of power suppression are more likely to have immature moral performance, which may make the children rebellious, resistant, and do not know how to care for others.

The book "The Civilization of Empathy" by Jeremy Rykov provides in-depth insights into the cultivation of empathy. He believes that inductive discipline is the best way to tap the potential of empathy. It can teach children the essence of human morality - taking responsibility, understanding others, helping others, and establishing the concept of fairness.

On the premise of love and fairness, by carrying out this kind of educational intervention, children can truly realize that the pain of others is caused by their own actions, and thus feel guilty and regretful, and sincerely want to make amends.

This kind of inductive discipline has a routine like a script: the child gets into trouble, and then the parents intervene to induce it, and then the child develops empathy, pain and guilt, and finally the parents propose a compensation measure, such as apologizing, hugging the victim, etc. Let the child experience the feeling of relief and eliminate the feeling of guilt.