Feeling Beautiful Spurs Kindness and Generosity

Summary: A new study shows that enhancing one’s appearance, even virtually, increases prosocial behavior such as kindness and charitable giving. Participants who saw enhanced images of themselves were twice as…

What Makes Yawning Contagious? – Neuroscience News

Summary: Yawning is a universal behavior observed in many species, but why do we tend to yawn when someone else does? While the idea that yawning increases brain oxygenation remains…

Shaping Empathy: Adult Brains Can Learn Compassion

Summary: Empathy, often considered a fixed trait, has been shown to be malleable in adults, influenced by observing the empathetic reactions of others. The study utilized Computational Modeling and functional…

How Imagination Fuels Empathy and Prosocial Behavior

Summary: A new study highlights the significant role of imagination in evoking empathy and driving prosocial behavior. While empathy is multifaceted, this research focuses on two aspects: personal distress and…

How Others’ Perspectives Shape Our Thoughts

Summary: Researchers explored the subtle influence of others’ perspectives on human thinking. In a study involving 234 participants, they used blindfolds to examine whether people process the viewpoint of others…

Empathy’s Influence on Drinking Patterns

Summary: A recent study reports a surprising correlation between daily affective empathy and alcohol consumption. The study found that on days when people experienced higher levels of affective empathy (empathy…

Empathy Unleashed: AI’s Personal Disclosures Boost User Acceptance

Summary: When artificial intelligence (AI) agents disclose personal information, it can boost users’ empathy towards them, thus increasing acceptance of AI technologies. The study involved online experiments where participants engaged…