Empathy Literally Hurts

Empathy Literally Hurts

Top of Mind with Julie Rose - Radio Archive, Episode 571 , Segment 3

Episode: World Events, Empathy Hurts, China Consumers

  • Jun 12, 2017 11:00 pm
  • 12:40 mins

Guest: Michael Poulin, PhD, Associate Professor of Psychology, University at Buffalo To really understand another’s suffering, we’re often advised to “walk a mile in their shoes,” put ourselves in their position, and ask, “How would you feel?” But there comes a point where that level of empathy can wear you down and even cause burnout, if you’re in a job that encounters a lot of suffering. So is having empathy unhealthy? Michael Poulin says it depends—there are two routes to empathy, and learning how to master one of them can help us be compassionate without the negative side-effects.

Other Segments

Game Puts Players in 1943 Protest Against Nazis

20 MINS

Guest: Jessica Hammer, PhD, Assistant Professor of Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Mellon University, Co-creator of Rosenstrasse; Moyra Turkingon, Co-creator of Rosenstrasse, leader of War Birds game design collective, Unruly Designs If you’ve ever watched a film about Nazi Germany and thought, “I would have resisted. I’d have stood up to injustice, no matter how dangerous it got,” a new board game called Rosenstrasse will test your resolve. It’s a role-playing game that puts you in the shoes of people who participated in a historic protest on Rosenstrasse Street in 1943 Berlin.  Hundreds of Aryan women turned out day after day in the spring of that year to protest the incarceration of their Jewish husbands by the Nazis.

Guest: Jessica Hammer, PhD, Assistant Professor of Human-Computer Interaction Institute, Mellon University, Co-creator of Rosenstrasse; Moyra Turkingon, Co-creator of Rosenstrasse, leader of War Birds game design collective, Unruly Designs If you’ve ever watched a film about Nazi Germany and thought, “I would have resisted. I’d have stood up to injustice, no matter how dangerous it got,” a new board game called Rosenstrasse will test your resolve. It’s a role-playing game that puts you in the shoes of people who participated in a historic protest on Rosenstrasse Street in 1943 Berlin.  Hundreds of Aryan women turned out day after day in the spring of that year to protest the incarceration of their Jewish husbands by the Nazis.