By Regina Kim

Empathy, broadly defined as an ability to see the world through others’ eyes, sensing and understanding their thoughts, intentions and feelings in the same way as they do, is an integral part of our lives as we navigate through our social communities.

Because it’s the cornerstone of pro-social behaviors, empathy has been widely studied and research shows that empathy reduces racial bias, discrimination, aggression, and violence.  Given what we know about empathy and its effects on social relationships, can we teach people to be empathic?  The answer is yes, at least for children.

Read more from Columbia University's ICCR blog [here].