Simon Baron-Cohen - Zero Degrees of Empathy: A new theory of human cruelty

A new theory of human cruelty

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First published 2011

Copyright Simon Baron-Cohen, 2011

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Grateful acknowledgement is given to the following for permission to reproduce photographs: 882 IAM/akg/World History Archive (inmates in Dachau (p. 2)); Harvard Widener Library & Central Zionist Archives (Martin Buber (p. 5)); Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty Images (Capuchin monkeys (p. 97)); Benny Gool (Desmond Tutu (p. 123))

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ISBN: 978-0-71-819334-8

In memory of

Peter Lipton (19502007) Professor of Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University, who combined precision in explanation with humour and compassion

and

Judy Ruth Greenblatt (19332008) who gave her five children and five grandchildren their internal pot of gold

This book isnt for people with a sensitive disposition. You cant write about human cruelty in a cheerful way, so if youre looking for a fun read proceed no further. In this book I attempt to redefine evil in terms of empathy, and look at why some people have more or less empathy than others, and what happens when we lose it. Distressing and even shocking as the material may be, the nature of empathy is (to me, at least) endlessly fascinating, and the research behind it has been exciting (an odd choice of word in the circumstances), primarily because I have such a wonderful group of talented scientists as colleagues. I am pleased to have the chance to thank them here.

Scientists collect bizarre things (Darwin famously collected beetles and finches). In our case, as empathy researchers, we collected emotions! Our DVD Mindreading) as a fun way to teach empathy to preschool children with autism who struggle to achieve this.

Scientists also develop new ways to measure things. For us, the challenge was to come up with new ways to measure individual differences in empathy. First, Sally Wheelwright, Carrie Allison, Bonnie Auyeung and I developed the Empathy Quotient (EQ). Youll find this in Appendix 1. To track down where empathy might be hiding, Chris Ashwin, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Mike Lombardo, John Suckling, Ed Bullmore, Meng-Chuan Lai, Matthew Belmonte, Jac Billington, John Herrington, Howard Ring, Steve Williams, Marie Gomot, Ilaria Minio-Paluello and I conducted brain-scanning studies. To investigate the trouble with testosterone and its impact on empathy, Bonnie Auyeung, Rebecca Knickmeyer, Emma Ashwin (ne Chapman), Svetlana Lutchmaya, Liliana Ruta, Erin Ingudomnukul, Lindsay Chura, Kevin Taylor, Peter Raggat, Gerald Hackett and I collected amniotic fluid from babies and blood samples from adults. Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Frank Dudbridge, Sharmila Basu, Carrie Allison, Sally Wheelwright, Grant Hill-Cawthorne, Lindsey Kent and I also hunted for empathy genes. All of these projects have been fascinating.

Keeping a busy research lab running smoothly while writing a book assumes wonderful administrative support: Gaenor Moore, Paula Naimi, Jenny Hannah, Carol Farmer and Rachel Jackson have been an amazing admin team. Gaenor also cheerfully compiled the references for this book, no small feat, for which I am extremely grateful. Bhismadev Chakrabarti and Mike Lombardo both generously commented on draft chapters in this book. Mike in particular taught me more social neuroscience during this process, which was invaluable.

Helen Conford and Stefan McGrath at Penguin UK have been patiently waiting for this book since 2004! Helen gave me insightful, careful feedback as the book took shape. It took six years to write because the hunt for empathy genes is not quick. Katinka Matson and John Brockman, my agents, showed the same remarkable patience in waiting for this book to be born. I am indebted to Charlotte Ridings and Jan Kristiannson for their excellent editorial suggestions, and to Thomas Keheller at Basic Books for his support.

I give special thanks to Bridget Lindley for all her support, to my parents (Judy and Vivian) and siblings (Dan, Ash, Liz and Suzie) for their dependable humour, and to my children, Sam, Kate and Robin, for their playfulness and encouragement. I hope I gave them enough of the internal pot of gold that I got from my parents, who got it from theirs.

I have been studying empathy for thirty years, and my aim now is to put this remarkable substance on to the table so we can all look at it from every angle. In my first book, Mindblindness, I focused on one part of the nature of empathy (the part related to how we understand other people, that is, the cognitive part of empathy) and on the case of autism, where empathy difficulties abound. In my second book, The Essential Difference, I included the second part of empathy (the part related to our emotional reactions to people, that is, the affective part of empathy), and on how the two sexes differ in empathy. In that book I again explored the flip side of empathy, with an analysis of the difficulties people with autism face in acquiring this essential skill.

Now, in Zero Degrees of Empathy, I examine why some people become capable of cruelty, and whether a loss of empathy inevitably has this consequence. This book goes deeper into the subject than I have gone before, by drilling down into the brain basis of empathy and looking at its social and biological determinants, and it is broader too, by having a close look at some of the medical conditions that lead to a loss of empathy. My main goal is to understand human cruelty, replacing the unscientific term evil with the scientific term empathy.

Those readers who wish to pursue the subject in more depth will find the relevant scientific papers (indicated by Arabic numbers) listed in the References starting on .

When I was seven years old, my father told me the Nazis had turned Jews into lampshades. Just one of those comments that you hear once and the thought never goes away. To a childs mind even to an adults these two types of thing just dont belong together. He also told me the Nazis turned Jews into bars of soap. It sounds so unbelievable, yet it is actually true. I knew our family was Jewish, so this image of turning people into objects felt a bit close to home.