Why Aren't We More Compassionate?

I know this is a bit of a throwback, as I'm about to talk about emotional intelligence, something we studied way-back-when in Chapter 11, but I recently stumbled on a TED talk given by Daniel Goleman, entitled, "Why Aren't We More Compassionate?" and found it super-interesting and somewhat related to social psychology, as it talks about how we interact with others, so I thought I'd share. So, let me begin first by reviewing emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence, based off of Sternberg's ideas, essentially says that academic intelligence is necessary for rigorous professions but once you get to a certain level of academic intelligence where everyone possesses similar qualities, it is social and emotional intelligence that dictates success. Peter Salovey and John Mayer coined this idea with the MEIS (multi-factor emotional intelligence scale) in 1995. However, it was popularized by Daniel Goleman, who also produced the term EQ, or emotional quotient, a play on words.

Goleman believed that EQ indicated social intelligence. It is the ability to perceive emotions (recognizing them in faces, music, and stories, reading the tone of a room, recognizing emotion in others), express emotions (to enable adaptive and creative thinking, the ability to be empathetic, and give people the sense that you are listening to them and understanding them), understand emotions (predict them and understand how they change and blend, and internalize what surrounds you), and regulate emotions (know how to express them in varied situations, such as remaining calm in the face of a stressful context). The emotional intelligence scale is designed to assess the appraisal, expression, and regulation of emotion in the self and others and the utilization of emotion in solving problems.

Goleman begins his talk by mentioning a critical study done at Princeton Theological Seminary that seems to explain why it is that when we have the opportunity to help, sometimes we do, and other times, we don't. The experiment was done as follows: A group of divinity students at the Princeton Theological Seminary were instructed that they were to give a practice sermon, and were each assigned a sermon topic. Half of the students were given, as a topic, the parable of the Good Samaritan, the man who stopped to help a stranger in need by the side of the road. The other half were given random Bible topics. Then, they were told that they would need to switch to another building to deliver the sermon. As they walked from the first building to the second, they each passed a man who was clearly in dire need. The question is: Did they help? And moreover, did the fact that they were mulling over the parable of the Good Samaritan affect their actions? However, what determined whether or not these students stopped to help was how much of a hurry that believed themselves to be in.

There is a new emerging field in brain science, called social neuroscience. It examines the circuitry in two people's brains that activates while they interact. And the findings concerning compassion from the social neuroscience perspective is that our" default wiring" is to help. This means that if we attend to another, we automatically emphasize and feel with them, due to our mirror neurons. However, when we're preoccupied or focused on ourselves, we don't feel this click, and don't completely notice one another, thus preventing us from stopping to help.

Goleman then mentions an interview his brother-in-law conducted with a famous killer, known as the Santa Cruz strangler. The most morbid part of the experience was figuring out that this murderer had an IQ of 160, a certified genius. But there is no correlation between IQ and emotional empathy, as they're controlled by different parts of the brain. At one point, Goleman's brother-in-law asked the man how he could have done it. And the response he received was: "Oh no. If I'd felt the distress, I could not have done it. I had to turn that part of me off. I had to turn that part of me off."

This idea, of turning emotions off, is a frequent theme of the popular television show, The Vampire Diaries. In the supernatural world of vampires, they are given the ability to quite literally "turn their emotions off," and as a result, feel no remorse for their actions.

What do you think of Goleman's conclusion? 

For your viewing pleasure, the video is below.