Findings
Over the course of our learning and grantmaking, we've come across extraordinary research, quotes, images, articles, and insights by people and organizations all over the world. This is a collection of inspirational resources that drive our work.
Researchers have found links between self-reported empathy and life satisfaction, as well as positive interactions with other people.
Exercises that prompt us to consider the perspective of one member of a group can lead us to not only feel for that person, but also to generalize those feelings toward the group as a whole. In that way, empathy can have a positive influence on attitudes toward stigmatized groups.
This study examines associations between state-level empathy, prosocial behavior, and antisocial behavior in the United States.
"What empathy does is that it forces you, it compels you, to imagine the lives of other people and to see other people just as human as you are. And if you’re able to do that then I think that you’re more likely to want to live at peace with them. You’re less likely to want to fight wars, and you’re more likely to want them to have the social privileges that you have."
"If we were really to see one another as brothers and sisters, there would be no basis for division, cheating and exploitation among us. Therefore it’s important to promote the idea of the oneness of humanity, that in being human we are all the same."
"Empathy is about finding echoes of another person in yourself."
"Empathy is the only human superpower - it can shrink distance, cut through social and power hierarchies, transcend differences, and provoke political and social change."
"My heart has learned to glow for others’ good."
I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.
Empathy has been defined in the scientific journals as ‘I feel with you‘, as distinct from compassion, which has been defined as ‘I feel for you’.
