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Empath Or Psychopath? "The Fear Factor"

Victor Bezrukov, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10465998

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.

 

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Geoffrey Riley is a graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and has hosted the Jefferson Exchange on JPR since 2009. He's been a broadcaster in the Rogue Valley for more than 35 years, working in both television and radio.
April Ehrlich reports on lands and environmental policy for Oregon Public Broadcasting, a JPR news partner. Her reporting comes to JPR through the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.