Developing Empathic Leadership 2022 Latest Answers
Empathy has come to the forefront of research lately with the discovery of mirror
neurons in neurobiology. Mirror neurons are responsible for mimicry and allow us
to sense the feelings of others directly. The same mirror neurons light up in our
brain when see someone acting in a certain way with intention as the mirror neuronsin their brain when they are performing this action and “send signals to emotional
brain centers in the limbic system to make us feel what other people feel.” 30 The way
we interpret these signals has to do with our background, experiences, biases, and
the ability to regulate our bodily and emotional responses.
The discovery of mirror neurons led to the exploration and better understanding
of the more complex system of empathy. Although there are still scientifi c tensions
about the placing and function of mirror neurons, the importance of their discovery
lies in that they have changed the way we think about ourselves. This goes in line
with a stream of social scientists’ suggesting that we are not self-contained individuals but we are integrally connected to others and to our environment.