Quote:
Originally Posted by here today
The geek has been doing some research (fun!) and I came across some things online yesterday. Can’t find the stuff again right now (let me know, anybody, if you want it and I’ll try to find the links again) but the picture I’m beginning to get is that in “normals” the switch for emotional empathy is set “on”. It helps in bonding with other people, which has helped us work together and be such a successful species.
It can be turned “off” when we are stressed or traumatized, in which case we are more like psychopaths are normally.
On the other hand, the default setting for psychopaths is “off”. It can be turned “on”, in a way, and used instrumentally toward achieving one’s own goals. (Which is why some people may feel that psychopaths are the e- word.)
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I've seen the on and off thing with a very close friend of mine, ironically she's one of the most empathetic people I've ever seen. How the two of us are healthy in a friendship I don't know but hey I just go with the flow. But she's talked about this exact concept, how sometimes when she's under too much stress she actually consciously CHOOSES to turn off her capacity for empathy because she said that frankly sometimes giving a **** about anyone else is just too much for her to handle.
If we're talking about cognitive empathy, hell yeah I have an on and off switch. I can tune into people ridiculously well when I want to, to the point that I've been called psychic. I can see what people are feeling and why they're feeling it just fine, I just don't give a **** about it.