
Episode 5 | What Is Empathy?
Clip: Episode 5 | 1m 58s
This ability to feel another’s pain explains why stories can be so powerful.
When we watch someone else in pain our brains run a simulation of what that pain feels like. This ability to imagine another's pain is the basis of how we relate to each other and explains why stories can be so powerful.
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Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback

Episode 5 | What Is Empathy?
Clip: Episode 5 | 1m 58s
When we watch someone else in pain our brains run a simulation of what that pain feels like. This ability to imagine another's pain is the basis of how we relate to each other and explains why stories can be so powerful.
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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Explore the Brain with this Interactive
What's the story of one of our body's most complex organs? In this interactive, viewers can explore clips from each of the six episodes of The Brain with David Eagleman. Grades: 9-13+Episode 5 | Destroying Empathy
Clip: Ep5 | 2m 29s | Propaganda plugs directly into neural networks, enabling dehumanization. (2m 29s)
Clip: Ep5 | 2m 12s | Humans come equipped with social antennae. (2m 12s)
Episode 5 | In-Group/Out-Group
Clip: Ep5 | 2m 23s | David shows that a single word label can decide over how much you care for one in pain. (2m 23s)
Clip: Ep5 | 3m 26s | Why do we mimic each other’s facial expressions? (3m 26s)
Episode 5 | Social Pain Is Real Pain
Clip: Ep5 | 1m 6s | Social pain activates the brain’s pain matrix. (1m 6s)
Episode 5 | The Amazing Case of John Robison
Clip: Ep5 | 4m 15s | One man's transformation reveals something that we all unconsciously do every day. (4m 15s)
Episode 5 | The Massacre of Srebrenica
Clip: Ep5 | 3m 27s | Can genocide be understood as a neural phenomenon? (3m 27s)
Preview: Ep5 | 30s | How the human brain depends on other brains to thrive and survive. (30s)
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