Zero Degrees of Empathy
By Simon Baron-Cohen

Simon Baron-Cohen is a Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. His main areas of research are autism and empathy. I have just finished reading his new book Zero Degrees of Empathy.

I read a good book a year or so ago by the author (and another Professor) Adrian Raine, a book called The Anatomy of Violence, and I saw Raine's name come up here. Raine looks at the causes of criminality, and particularly violent crime: how much is genetic, how much environmental. Baron-Cohen's new book is a look at the causes of cruelty, and the nature of evil. Rightly, he sees the word "evil" as unscientific and wants to bring some scientific rigour to it. He posits that cruelty and violence is related to how much empathy you have (a measurable empathy quotient). He outlines this theory and looks for causes.

Baron-Cohen takes some time to investigate some case studies and looks at the background of people with some severe behavioural or personality disorders. The final analysis finds multiple reasons some people end up with problems and, as one would expect, there is a partly environmental as well as partly genetic cause. The following passage is one that struck me as I leafed through the book in the bookshop, and is partly responsible for the purchase. On bringing up children :

What the caregiver gives his or her child in those first few critical years is like an internal pot of gold. The idea - which builds on Freud's insight - is that what a parent can give his or her child by way of filling the child up with positive emotions is a gift more precious than anything material. That internal pot of gold is something the child can carry throughout their life, even if they become a penniless refugee or are beset by other challenges. The internal pot of gold is what gives the individual the strength to deal with challenges, the ability to bounce back from setbacks, and the ability to show affection and enjoy intimacy with others, in other relationships. It overlaps with what London child psychiatrist Michael Rutter refers to as "resilience".

This "internal pot of gold" is a very powerful description of what good parenting can do for a child. This is a brief but worthwhie read.