A thorough review of what we presently know about empathy and its importance in human life, culminating in an illuminating study.
Frans de Waal, author of Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? Segal and her coauthors have carefully and thoroughly deconstructed the elements of empathy examined by neuroscientific research in order to construct an innovative theory of social empathy. They make a significant contribution to the development of the social work profession, and this timely book will be relevant to a large audience beyond social work and other helping professions.
Sarah Garlington, Ohio University I found this book to be deeply engaging and an urgent contemporary revisiting of a concept that is fundamental to interpersonal communication and therapeutic relationships. The authors brilliantly integrate transdisciplinary knowledge and perspectives from physiology, psychology, and the neurosciences to enhance the reader's understanding of empathy.
Paula Allen-Meares, chancellor emerita, University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago Assessing Empathy will be an invaluable multidisciplinary resource for students and scholars alike. It not only offers a comprehensive review of the concept of empathy, but also summarizes important research findings from human neuroscience, developmental psychology, social work, ethology, and other social science disciplines that bear on our understanding of how empathy is acquired, and the critical functions it serves in both social and interpersonal contexts.
Jerrold R. Brandell, Distinguished Professor and Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Wayne State University School of Social Work How do we enhance people's capacity to care about others? This volume beautifully integrates the current state of knowledge regarding empathy from neurobiological, psychological, bio-social and social justice perspectives, and offers both the rationale and the tools to begin answering that important question.
Jacky Thomas, California State University San Marcos