Empathy, Mirror Neurons, and Deep Brain Learning: Moral Maps to Non-Violence

The details about the shooting rampage that left six people dead, a Congresswoman in critical condition, and another dozen injured are still unfolding. While the focus is on the condition of survivors and sympathy for the victims, the “whys” of this event also are emerging. Although the suspected shooter’s intentions and motives remain unknown, there is speculation that the inflammatory language and violent images permeating the media played some role in the incident. Clarence W. Dupnik, Pima County sheriff, captured the essence of the incident at a news conference saying it was time for all of us to “do a little soul-searching” about the caustic political climate in the US. He observed that talk radio and other media “invite the kind of toxic rhetoric that can lead unstable people to believe this is an acceptable response.”

Having worked in the field of interpersonal violence, particularly domestic violence, discussion of how language and images influence behavior is not a new issue for me. Whether or not violence language played a role in the shooter’s motives is not yet known. But if you work in settings that address interpersonal violence, you are probably very familiar that domestic violence shelters often provide education to both clients and staff about how words communicate violence in our culture (for one example, visit Mid-Valley Women’s Crisis Center or Google and search “violent language, domestic violence” for more information). This education not only teaches to how violent language, actions, and image impact families and children, it is also reminds all helping professionals about the importance of empathy in our work, communities, and culture.

In Deep Brain Learning: Pathways to Potential with Challenging Youth, Brendtro, Mitchell, and McCall summarize empathy as follows:

“Empathy is the foundation of moral development and pro-social behavior. The original word began in the German language as Einfuhlung which is literally translated as feeling into. Empathy taps the ability of mirror neurons to display in our own brain the emotions, thoughts, and motives of another. Empathy allows us to share anothers joy and pain and motivates care and concern” (p. 91).

Linguist Noam Chomsky notes that children not only have the ability to learn language, but also that they have the capacity for learning what is called moral grammar. Chomsky’s research underscores that the human brain uses social interaction to develop both language and moral grammar; more importantly, he notes that the quality of an individual’s language and moral values are dependent on verbal and cultural environments. In other words, the same “mirror neurons” in the brain respond to violent verbal and cultural environments as to empathetic words and ecologies. In fact, it was recently noted that empathy and violent tendencies actually overlap within the brain.

As the details of the shooting in Tucson unfold, more questions than answers will likely emerge, just as they have after violent episodes like the Oklahoma City bombing and shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech. Undoubtedly, mental illness played a role in these and many similar scenarios; it’s also impossible to say that some of these incidents could have been easily prevented for that reason. But what is possible, as Dupnik noted, is to accept that our words and actions do have profound and far-reaching consequences within our families, communities and cultures; what we say and do can make a difference in the lives of those we encounter. Children can only flourish and become positive, productive adults in environments where empathy is the core value and violence, in all its forms, is unacceptable.

Be well,

Cathy Malchiodi, PhD, LPAT, LPCC

References

Brendtro, L., Mitchell, M., & McCall, H. (2009). Deep brain learning: Pathways to potential with challenging youth. Albion, MI: Starr Commonwealth.

Hauser, M. (2006). Moral minds: How nature designed our universal sense of right and wrong. New York: Harper Collins.

Chomsky, N. (2008). The essential Chomsky. New York: New Press.

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