Educational Media Reviews Online

This documentary explores the topic of empathy from an interdisciplinary perspective. Researchers from a variety of disciplines including economics, history, psychology, religion, political science, and neuroscience discuss the nature of empathy in an increasingly connected and global society, as well as the obstacles and opportunities for the development of empathy. Empathy is defined in the context of moving beyond the basic need of sharing one’s emotions to understanding what the person contributes to me that serves to benefit the greater society.

At the root of empathy is the desire to be understood, yet obstacles such as skin color, physical features, religion, politics, and economics serve to divide rather than to sense and understand what others are feeling. A research study investigated whether persons of one ethnic group would sense the hurt or pain being experienced by a member of an opposing ethnic group. The researchers found that participants tended to empathize more with persons of the “in” group (those of their shared ethnicity) than they did with those of the “out” group. A person’s sense of empathy may also be determined by the “crowd mentality.” The “bystander effect” defines how a person (or group of people) will respond to either the perpetrator or victim. The study found that the greater number of bystanders, the less likely someone would step forward and intervene for either the perpetrator or victim. Two factors were identified as contributing to the lack of response: level of identification with either the perpetrator or victim, and the effect of crowd behavior (how will others respond to the intervention?). As each generation becomes more socially connected, traditional boundaries are breaking down, yet there exists a failed capability to communicate what is being felt. At a recent presentation to the United Nations on emotional literacy it was stated that humans needed to learn to relate just as much as they need to learn to read. If we fail to relate, the society as a whole will fail. Each presenter is identified by name and discipline as a new discussion starts.

While the documentary did a good job overall of addressing the issue of human empathy, there were a couple of instances of disconnect between the expert's statement and the succeeding interviews or video clips. This DVD would make an excellent addition for courses related to human emotions, counseling, sociology, and social work.