My Thoughts on Mirror Neurons and Empathy

In my childhood we used to go to the disco on Saturday evenings. We'd have copious amounts of alcohol. Most often than not, we would get into fights. We didn't have guns but we had fists.

I remember what I felt whenever I saw someone getting punched in the face in front of me. It was like, for a brief moment, I would feel what they felt...an electrifying signal travelling down my spinal cord.

But it wasn't I who experienced the punch directly. So, why would I have this experience?

Humans evolved to live in cooperation.

Upon receiving visual information of the incident (someone being punched), mirror neurons would fire in my brain leading to a replication (often dampened - at a smaller scale) of the feelings the victim experienced. Why would this be?

So that I could better understand what the other person was going through; so that I would be motivated to jump in, help, and often fight back. Let's talk about mirror neurons...

Neurons of Empathy

According to a paper published in 2010 in Journal of Analytical Psyschology mirror neurons are a class of sensory motor neurons discovered in 1992 in the ventral pre-motor cortex of the monkey brain (thus, 'monkey see monkey do').

They are activated when someone executes a motor act (walking, grabbing food, fighting, etc) and another one observes the act. The purpose is to bridge a solid connection between the two individuals so that both of them could see/experience a similar perspective on the activities or things they engage in.

There are many facets of mirror neurons (full mirroring, adaptive mirroring, etc.) and numerous controversies surrounding them (are they for real? or is it just another science-research fad?)

Real or not, I know that when I see some accidentally cutting their finger while chopping vegetables, I feel that tremor traveling down my spinal cord....

Here's one of my favorite scientist, V.S. Ramachandran, giving a TED Talk about this:

Connection to Empathy

In his book Emotional Intelligence, Dan Goleman refers to empathy as the talent to decipher the emotional data coming from other people. This could come via numerous channels: body language, tone of voice, facial gestures, silence moments, and other non-verbal cues.

When I'm able to efficiently decipher these cues coming from other people, I am highly empathetic and chances are that I can develop a stronger relationships. In analyzing the body cues of others, mirror neurons may assist in my personal decoding of the message.

In a study from 1989 (I hate quoting decades-old studies), Nowicki and Duke tested 101 children to see what their empathy levels were. Children more able to detect the non-verbal cues of others were also more popular in school. They had better emotional stability regardless of their IQ level.

I would stretch the line of reasoning by saying that to better empathize with other, I need to better understand myself first. If I can understand myself better, I'll be more prepared to understand others and possibly help them whenever that is required.

Where am I going with this?

Have a look at your usual social circle - the people whom you spend most of your time with on a daily basis. I'll use mine from the past.

The group enjoyed partying. Most of the guys and girls in the group drank regularly and smoked heavily. I was one. We were empowering each other's bad habits. An outsider with different habits (healthy living, exercise, not drinking, etc) would not fit into our group. It would create dissonance.

(The following is my anecdotal thinking - not proven)

The mirror neurons of the individuals in my group would fire when we were together. We would basically empower each others' bad habits, thus creating a vicious circle.

Being part of the bad circle would create a sort of - mental fog - among its members. I would not be able to see how bad the situation was because everyone was doing just the same. We were all alike and what we did was the norm for us.

To get out the circle, a member would need a very powerful motivator (traumatizing experience, drastic change in thinking, etc.)

Bad Social Circle?

Here's my suggestion for what you can do if you find yourself in a similar situation:

1. Take a look at those around you. Observe their habits.
2. Observe your habits. Do you see similarity with the group?
3. Force your way out.

The third bullet-point is tricky. It may be easier said than done to try to remove yourself from a bad social circle. You may not be able to do it out of the sudden.

You'd have to do it progressively.

Befriend someone outside the circle, a person with better habits. Start adopting the same good habits of that person, one at a time. Allow yourself to fail. Start over. Befriend another person with better habits. Loosen the ties with the bad group - progressively - one by one. Spend less time with the group and more time on your new habits and new friends.

Ending Thoughts

Reiterating, in theory it may seem easy. Force yourself into practice. As I said in a previous post:

You are the average of the people you spend most of your time with. Be careful in making good choices.

If you surround yourself with people better than you, your mirror neurons will fire and try to replicate the actions/activities of those individuals. You'll build yourself toward becoming one of them. Thus you'd be part of a positive circle/group and you'll have your chance to empower the group with your newly formed habits.

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Image Credit

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Cristi Vlad, Self-Experimenter and Author