The right hemisphere is responsible for the ability to put ourselves in anothers shoes
Because of the right hemisphere’s openness to the interconnectedness of things (see the right hemisphere sees things in their context), it is interested in others as individuals, and in how we relate to them. It is the mediator of empathic identification. I imagine myself in pain I use both hemispheres, but your pain is in my right hemisphere. The same neurons in the right anterior cingulate cortex, an area known to be associated with the appreciation of pain, show activity whether we ourselves are hurt or we witness someone else undergoing a similar painful experience. Self-awareness, empathy, identification with others, and more generally inter-subjective processes, are largely dependent upon right hemisphere resources. When we put ourselves in others’ shoes, we are using the right inferior parietal lobe, and the right lateral prefrontal cortex, which is involved in inhibiting the automatic tendency to espouse one’s own point of view. In circumstances of right hemisphere activation, subjects are more favorably disposed towards others and more readily convinced by arguments in favor of positions that they have not previously supported.
References
- Mcgilchrist, Iain. (2010). The Master and His Emissary Chapter 2 What Do the Hemispheres Do (115). London, UK: Yale University Press.
Metadata
Type:🔴 Tags: Biology / Neuroscience / Neuropsychology Status:☀️