My final TED talk reflection is based off of "Daniel Goleman: Why aren't we more compassionate?"
This talk is about why humans aren't compassionate towards each other on a Psychological level. Goleman goes through multiple examples throughout his talk that display our lack of compassion in action.
One such example was done by testing a group of divinity students studying at the Princeton Theological Seminary. The students were told that they were going to give a practice seminary. Each of the students were given a sermon topic. Half of the students were given topics on how to be a good Samaritan: the man who stopped to help the stranger in need by the side of the road, while the other half were given random Bible topics. The students were told to give the same seminar in one building, and then another building just down the block. A man that was in need was bent over and moaning; purposely staged in the middle of the passage between the buildings to see if any of the students would stop to help him. The most interesting part of the experiment was the outcome.
No. The students didn't stop to help the man.
Most of the students however, did not stop because of their conscious decision to leave the man there, they didn't stop because they believed they would be late to the next seminar.
Time is one of the leading causes for humankind's lack of compassion towards those in need.
Goleman continues to explain that most homeless people (in New York for example) are found near subway entrances or simply on a busy street.
One day while walking to the subway, Goleman saw a man sitting by the subway, unconscious. As he looked up he realized that everyone was in such a hurry they just walked over him, paying him no attention at all. Goleman however, once he approached the man, stopped to help him. Only then did the people around him notice the man he was standing before.
Goleman now fully believes that being self-absorbed in one's tasks are the reason we deny our surroundings. He says there's a new field in brain science especially for cases that look similar to these, Social Neuroscience. This studies the circuitry in two people's brains that activates while they interact.
Yet another example was of a woman who claims that her brother is still single because of his self-absorption. The woman's brother tried speed dating, and Goleman saw immediately that his issue was that never in the first five minutes of any woman he sat down with did he ask her a question about herself. He just started going on and on about himself, lacking the compassion for the other. Compassion can pull people together while the lack of it can cause people to rift tremendously or not even develop a connection in the first place.
By the end of his talk, Goleman encourages people to pay attention to the distinction between focusing on ourselves and focusing on others.
This talk interests me deeply because I love the human brain and Psychology. They are some of my favorite topics to research. Social sciences to me are very interesting because it's the very essence of how humans communicate to one another. This talk taught me to realize when I'm being compassionate and when I'm not, and to realize these things in others as well.
I hope in the future to be able to more openly show my compassion towards everyone making an impact in my life, and to establish more connections that could result in lifetime bonds.