Empathy for emotional pain needs to be learned (and taught slowly)

NPR - Compassion: Easier For A Broken Leg Than Heart

Using fMRI of 13 people, scientists gave subjects stories and video situations involving the emotions of others. For the physical pain scenarios, the subjects' brain activity was very similar to what would be active if they had their own physical injury, and the brain activity in these locations resulted very shortly after being exposed to the scenario. However, when scientists tried to elicit empathy for emotional pain, it was much more difficult. Using stories designed to elicit empathy for emotional pain, scientists were able to see the brain activity. Empathetic responses to emotional pain used much of the brain that responded to physical pain, but was also more complex, took longer to initiate, and longer to dissapate. The scientists claim it took the subjects' brains about 6 seconds to process emotional pain, while the physical pain was almost instantaneous. The theory is that empathy for emotional suffering is more complex and needs to be learned, while emapthy for physical pain is relatively innate. Lastly, people need time to experience and process empathy for emotional pain, making quick news stories or glib stories possibly ineffectual for eliciting the appropriate empathetic response.