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David_Chapman comments on How to Be Happy - Less Wrong
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Regarding the development of agreeableness/empathy: there are meditation techniques specifically intended to do this. (They are variously called "Metta", "Lojong", "Tonglen", or (yuck) "loving kindness meditation"; all of which are pretty similar.) These originate in Mahayana Buddhism, but don't have any specifically religious content. They are often taught in conjunction with mindfulness meditation.
I don't know whether there have been any serious studies on these methods, but anecdotally they are highly effective. They seem not only to develop empathy, but also personal happiness (although that is not a stated goal). Generally, the serious studies that have been done on different meditation techniques have found that they work as advertised...
Of course I'm keeping my eye out for literature on improving empathy. All the reviews I found so far said that we're not sure how to do that yet, because the studies do not give strong and clear results. Most of the literature is about trying to train medical workers to have empathy.
Roots of Empathy seems promising, but I don't know whether it's been tested in adults.
EDIT: Fixed link.
Nice!
tl;dr
Roots of Empathy says caring for babies nurtures empathy.
Emotional awareness is a skill that can be cultivated, and increases one's agreeableness. Watch a disagreeable person in action and it's pretty obvious that they're not really picking up how other people are reacting to their behavior. Note that it's much easier to see disagreeable behavior is in others than in oneself. The challenge in becoming more agreeable lies partly in seeing oneself as others see you.
I am very interested in that. My roommate told me horror stories about his STNA (State Tested Nurse's Aide) training and I would like to know if any progress is being made in this area.
(nods) I began a Metta practice for mood management after my stroke (among a variety of other things) and found it very helpful. I still pull it out from time to time when I'm feeling particularly isolated. The usual caveats about other-optimizing apply, but within those limits I endorse this.