You've probably heard it said that the central factor in whether a person is pleasant to other people (or not) is empathy.
But psychology professor Abigail Marsh has been digging even deeper, and has concluded it's a shorter word: fear.
The response to the fear we recognize in OTHERS is central to empathy, or its lack. Dr. Marsh expands on what she's learned in The Fear Factor: How One Emotion Connects Altruists, Psychopaths, & Everyone In-Between. She visits by phone with details.