The Neuroscience Linking Creativity and Empathy Generation
Humans are not hard-wired to generate empathy. We need specific conditions that are not easy to meet. The creative process, harnessed for good, replicates these conditions. In other words, creativity is the best way to develop empathy. And we have neuroscience to prove it.
The Link Between Creativity and Empathy
THE CREATIVE PROCESS
The creative process, as defined by sociologists, must make something new while being familiar and making sense in a particular group context like a community, culture, or family (Hanson, 2015). Also embedded in the creative processes that involve the arts is the desire to attract the attention of an audience.
CONDITIONS FOR EMPATHY GENERATION
In order to generate empathy, a situation or interaction must attract our attention, be new in some way, while also being familiar enough for interpretation (Wondra and Ellsworth, 2015).
What Now?
How can youth drama practitioners intentionally harness the power of the creative process to develop empathy in our students? Empathy towards themselves, their peers, and their communities?
If you are interesting in learning more or expanding the study, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with me at ebd2138@tc.columbia.edu.