Unlocking Empathy: The Neuroscience Behind Understanding Others

Join Andrea Samadi in Episode 353 of the Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast as we explore the intricacies of empathy, guided by Grant Bosnick's tailored approaches to self-leadership. Delve into the foundation of empathy as a vital leadership tool, capable of strengthening relationships and achieving better outcomes. Learn about the neuroscience behind empathy, focusing on the role of mirror neurons and the three different types of empathy: cognitive, emotional, and empathetic concern.

We also reflect on personal experiences where assumptions led to misunderstandings, highlighting the importance of seeing through another's eyes. Discover practical tips for deepening empathy, cultivating empathetic concern, and applying these insights both personally and professionally to make meaningful connections. This episode calls us to consciously choose empathy, fostering trust and compassion in our interactions. Prepare for our final chapter on the Neuroscience of Presence in the upcoming episodes as we continue to enhance our understanding and application of neuroscience in our daily lives.

Welcome back to SEASON 13 of The Neuroscience Meets Social and Emotional Learning Podcast, where we connect the science-based evidence behind social and emotional learning and emotional intelligence training for improved well-being, achievement, productivity and results—using what I saw as the missing link (since we weren’t taught this when we were growing up in school), the application of practical neuroscience. I’m Andrea Samadi, an author, and an educator with a passion for learning and launched this podcast 6 years ago with the goal of bringing ALL the leading experts together (in one place) to help us to APPLY this research in our daily lives.

On today's episode #353 we continue with the second last topic of our 18-Week Self-Leadership Series based on Grant Bosnick’s “Tailored Approaches to Self-Leadership: A Bite Size Approach Using Psychology and Neuroscience” that we first dove into with our interview on EP #321[i] the end of January 2024. The goal was that each week, we focused on learning something new, (from Grant’s book) tied to the most current neuroscience research, that builds off the prior week, to help take us to greater heights this year. It honestly shocked me that this series took the entire year. Our final topic will be the neuroscience of presence, and then stay tuned for a review of the entire series to help us to move forward in 2025 with a new lens.  

Now we have not yet covered empathy as an entire topic on this podcast, (yet) but we did mention it on EP 340[ii] with mediation expert John Ford on “Navigating Workplace Conflicts” with his “The Empathy Set”[iii] Card Program. I also included the topic of Empathy within the Character Education program I created for schools, so I know why Grant would think this topic to be important enough to include on his “roadmap” for success. When I looked back to what I had written over 15 years ago on empathy, I found an image that said “empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another” which is right in line with how Grant Bosnick opens up Chapter 18 of his book. Grant reminds us that “empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from their frame of reference, the capacity to place ourselves in another person’s position, to put ourselves in their shoes, see it from their eyes, their perspective, their way of thinking and feeling.”.

((On today's EPISODE #353 “The Neuroscience of Empathy” we will cover)):

✔ A review of previous episodes where we covered empathy.

✔ The Neuroscience of Empathy

✔ Three Kinds of Empathy (Cognitive, Emotional and Empathetic Concern).

✔ Tips for becoming more empathetic in our