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Updated: Jun 21, 2026

Observational Fear as a Model of Affective Empathy in Mice
Published on: November 22, 2024
From dehumanization and objectification to rehumanization: neuroimaging studies on the building blocks of empathy
1Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08540, USA. sfiske@princeton.edu
Abstract:
Social neuroscience offers a window into the mental origins of empathy. People must appreciate another mind in order to empathize. People first categorize the other as human, assuming a mind, and then differentiate among social categories according to universal dimensions of perceived traits: warmth and competence. The least warm and competent groups (poor people, homeless, drug addicts) may even be denied humanity and a meaningful mind, according to both neural and behavioral responses to allegedly disgusting outcasts. Other groups may be instead envied and viewed as tools or automatons, that is, objectified. The patterns can reverse when perceivers must consider the other's preferences, that is, appreciate the other's mind.
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These technologies include computerized axial tomography (CAT or CT scans), positron-emission tomography (PET scans), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS).

