The Neuroscience of Empathy, Compassion, and Self-Compassion.

Cover -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Dedication -- Contents -- Contributors -- Preface -- Chapter 1 - What Is This Feeling That I Have for Myself and for Others? Contemporary Perspectives on Empathy, Compassion, and S... -- Origins -- Definitions -- Empathy -- Compassion -- Self-Compassion -- And Their Absence: A World Without Empathy, Compassion, or Self-Compassion -- Interrogatives and Polemics -- References -- Chapter 2 - The Brain That Feels Into Others: Toward a Neuroscience of Empathy -- Definitional Quandaries of Empathy -- Phylogeny and Comparative Ethology of Empathy -- Contextual Factors Concerning Empathy -- State-Dependent Aspects -- Trait-Dependent Aspects -- Measuring Empathy in Humans -- Historical Aspects -- Novel Experimental Procedures -- Brain Mechanisms Involved in Empathy -- Empathy in Neuropsychiatric Disorders -- Summary and Future Directions -- References -- Further Reading -- Chapter 3 - The Brain that Longs to Care for Others: The Current Neuroscience of Compassion -- Compassion -- The Emotional Experience of Compassion -- The Intention to Help -- Theory of Mind -- Bottom-Up Experiencing versus Top-Down Regulation -- An Integrated Theory of the Neuroscience of Compassion -- Directions for Future Research -- References -- Chapter 4 - The Brain That Longs to Care for Itself: The Current Neuroscience of Self-Compassion -- Self-Compassion -- The Evolution of Compassion and of Self-Compassion -- The Components of Self-Compassion -- Self-Kindness versus Self-Judgment -- Mindfulness versus Over-Identification -- Mindfulness and Attentional Control -- Mindfulness and Emotional Regulation -- Mindfulness and Self-Awareness -- A General Overview of the Neuroscience of Mindfulness -- Common-Humanity versus Isolation -- The Neuroscience of Self-Compassion -- Directions for Future Research -- References.

Chapter 5 - Sometimes I Get So Mad I Could …: The Neuroscience of Cruelty -- Defining Cruelty -- Causes of Cruelty: Dehumanization and Otherization -- Neural Markers of Dehumanization and Otherization -- Why We Are Cruel: The Role of Threat Responses -- Morality and Cruelty -- Everyday Cruelty: Anger, Aggression, and Hatred -- Anger and Aggression -- Hatred -- Jealousy -- Envy and Schadenfreude -- The Neuroscience of Populations Characterized by Cruelty -- Cruelty and Personality Disorders -- Summary of the Neuroscience of Cruelty -- References -- Further Readings -- Chapter 6 - Reflections of Others and of Self: The Mirror Neuron System's Relationship to Empathy -- Discovery of MNs and Attempts to Measure Them -- Using Neuroimaging to Infer MN Activation -- Putative Measures of MNs and Empathy -- Does Mu Suppression Reflect MNs? Yes, and then Some -- Beta Rhythms and Mns -- Do MNs Constitute or Contribute to Action Understanding? -- Self-Other Discrimination in the MN System -- Conclusions and Directions for Future Research -- References -- Chapter 7 - Why Does It Feel So Good to Care for Others and for Myself? -- Overview and Questions -- Caring for Others: Empathy and Compassion -- Vasopressin -- Preclinical Research -- Clinical Research -- Oxytocin -- Preclinical Research -- Clinical Research -- OXTR Polymorphisms -- Intranasal OT Administration Studies -- OT Release Studies -- Oxytocin and the Interactionist Perspective -- Caring for the Self: Self-Compassion -- Preclinical Research -- Clinical Research -- Conclusions and Directions for Future Research -- References -- Chapter 8 - Can We Change Our Mind About Caring for Others? The Neuroscience of Systematic Compassion Training -- Introduction and Scope of the Review -- Questions to Consider -- Compassion Training Techniques Reviewed -- Compassion Training Programs.

Cognitively-Based Compassion Training (CBCT) -- Compassion Cultivation Training (CCT) -- Project for Empathy and Compassion Education (PEACE) -- Highly Experienced Meditators -- The Neuroscience of Systematic Compassion Training -- Highly Experienced Meditators Exhibit Distinct Patterns of Brain Activity -- Brief Compassion Training and Neurobiology -- Overlapping but Distinct Systems -- Directions for Future Research -- Understanding the Current Limitations -- Future Studies -- References -- Chapter 9 - Compassion Training from an Early Buddhist Perspective: The Neurological Concomitants of the Brahmavihāras -- The Brahmavihāras in Early Buddhist Soteriology -- Attentional Foundations of Contemplative Practice -- The Neural Concomitants of Brahmavihāra Practices -- Conclusions and Directions for Future Research -- References -- Further Readings -- Chapter 10 - The Language and Structure of Social Cognition: An Integrative Process of Becoming the Other -- Introduction -- The Taxonomy of Social Cognition -- The Role of Empathy in the Social Cognition Lexicon -- What is Compassion? -- Unifying Principles: Becoming/Knowing the Other -- The Principle of Phylogenetic Continuity -- The Principle of Ontogenetic Continuity -- Constraints -- Conclusions -- References -- Chapter 11 - Where Caring for Self and Others Lives in the Brain, and How It Can Be Enhanced and Diminished: Observations on the... -- Empathy, Compassion, and Self-Compassion -- Empathy -- Compassion -- Self-Compassion -- Cruelty -- Mirror Neurons -- Hormones -- Training -- Brahmaviharas -- Social Cognition -- An Integrated Portrait of Compassion -- The Empathy-to-Compassion (EtoC) Model -- Final Thoughts -- References -- Index -- Back Cover.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.