:poc-lol:I keep giggling at the idea of someone with testosterone coming out his ass

my smartphone
 

Sorry. While
charging my phone; bad spelling occurs. It does look like there should be an article attached. There are plenty for sure. Imo ....there is a problem in US with humans having faulty adrenals ....the way we eat and drink and lack of crop rotation and proper environmental gardening is screwing us. I am way into organic farming and permaculture as a way to live empathtically....going out on a limb here? ...did I make a connection or too oblique?

No, not oblique to me. I fully agree with you. I also believe that by 40, everyone, especially women should check into their adrenals and see if they need support.

On another note, I was amused when I mention a dog smiling as a sign of empathy and you mentioned smiling as the first sign of empathy between people who speak different languages. I think we're on the same page.

yes
 

Gee it feels good to be on the same page....sometimes..

A almost meta study on oxytocin and how it acts in humans and other animals. One thing I like about hormones and neurotransmitters is that while they are expressed differently in different species, the behaviors seen in animals are specific to each species yet are similar.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2795557/

Link to GREAT videos on empathy and compassion
 

I have only watched the first clip but the information on oxytocin, the autonomic nervous system, the immune system, stress hormones and progesterone enlightens and illuminates why empathy is a functioning part of the mammalian brain and body.

Oxytocin and being empathic reduces stress BUT only when shown how to use the energy in practice. When being OBJECTIVE one does not get the healing effects from oxytocin and being empathic!

http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/arti...ssion_research

Dr Deborah Custance and Jennifer Mayer exposed 18 dogs to four separate 20-second experiments in which either the pet's owner or a stranger pretended to cry, hummed in an odd manner, or carried out a casual conversation.

Results showed significantly more dogs looked at, approached and touched the humans as they were crying as opposed to humming, and no dogs responded during talking.

Ms Mayer said: "The dogs approached whoever was crying regardless of their identity.

~a link for those who love the pooches and understand empathy

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/97...esearch_shows/

I want to believe that the dogs are attracted to crying people more than casually talking people because they love us and feel concern for us, but another part of me admits it's possible that when people cry they emit certain chemicals and the dogs sense those chemicals and they don't necessarily associate the chemicals with distress but with who knows what state of being, that presents some kind of biological advantage to them.

I think I understand what you mean IslandScout. Those chemical would be stress hormones and oxytocin and other hormones and neurotransmitters. Humans can smell the oxytocin in tears and react to them. The study about this had people smelling tears on tissues and talking about the emotions they had from smelling them. I believe they were smelling things like water, saliva and sweat as well as tears.

What this study documented that was that dogs reacted to the emotion, not to the sounds or actions. So, yes, dogs can and do react to the chemicals emitted by others. Humans often pull back when they sense these chemicals or see the emotions. Dogs go to the people crying and empathize (share) with humans.

Yes, nycfembbw. It is truly amazing how that happens. A child having just one person in their lives, even for a short period of time (like one school year), who is emotionally attentive and lets the child know that they matter can "undo" so much "bad stuff" (for lack of a better word).

I'm glad you had that someone like that in your life, Anya.

Interesting link about empathy vs sympathy

http://www.diffen.com/difference/Empathy_vs_Sympathy

I wonder if different chemicals are produced.........I could not find the answer because the search kept going to the sympathetic nervous system.....


<snip> Sympathy essentially implies a feeling of recognition of another's suffering while empathy is actually sharing another's suffering, if only briefly. Empathy is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes". So empathy is a deeper emotional experience.

Empathy develops into an unspoken understanding and mutual decision making that is unquestioned, and forms the basis of tribal community. Sympathy may be positive or negative, in the sense that it attracts a perceived quality to a perceived self identity, or it gives love and assistance to the unfortunate and needy.

<snip>
Compassion can form a base for both empathy and sympathy, and each may be seen as aspects of wisdom, or the means through which wisdom is synthesized. Sympathy also involves caring, but a compassionate sense of assistance and protection for those who are poor and less fortunate. Empathy is expressed when trying to feel someone else’s feeling who generally is known to you.
<snip>

I heard this program this morning and was moved by their many points. Not really an episode about empathy but more about how lack of insight eventually effects all people.

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/play_full.php?play=474

A vimeo clip on empathy, neurons and the dramatic arc. Insightful
http://vimeo.com/50579996