Most people are OK with a chatbot or robot that are programmed to respond with empathetic, or sympathetic responses. However, if someone is afraid that robots might be conscious, those same responses can be seen as disconcerting, or creepy.
A team of psychologists have taken steps toward quantifying morality and empathy. When people see or hear something disturbing, they may feel a snap ethical or moral response. These tests and mathematical models can help psychologists capture and quantify those responses. One day, researchers suggest this work could help criminologists and psychologists better understand criminal and pathological behavior.
One of the world’s leading authorities on empathy and child development, Nancy Eisenberg, will present the 2017 Lecture on Compassion. Eisenberg, who is Regents Professor of Psychology at Arizona State University, will talk about “Empathy-Related Responding and Prosocial Behavior in Children,” at 4 p.m. on April 20 in Room 22 of the Biobehavioral Health Building on the Penn State University Park campus. The lecture is free and open to the public.
As Election Day nears, voters are debating the qualities that make for an effective leader. One of these contested qualities is empathy: the ability to understand and resonate with the experiences of others. Does it matter if a president can relate to you and care about what you are going through?
To continue to infuse the concept of care and compassion throughout curricula in the College of Health and Human Development, Edna Bennett Pierce and Mark Greenberg have endowed a professorship, lectureship and fellowship.
