New research indicates that there may be an olfactory-based, evolutionary mechanism built into the human genome that enables empathy for the suffering of others. A fascinating study found that the scent of human anxiety actually seems to elicit an empathy response -- even when the smell was below the threshold of conscious perception.
Empathy has concrete and measurable therapeutic effects. Research conducted in 2009 showed that empathy on the part of doctors reduced the duration of the common cold in their patients.
According to Green Med Info:
“Given that many believe empathy is not ‘hard-wired’ into us, but rather represents a ‘higher faculty’ in constant struggle with our ‘baser,’ fundamentally selfish instincts, this new research is all the more encouraging. Perhaps in light of it, it will be easier for those who do not experience compassion directly or often enough, either on the giving or receiving end, to come to appreciate its essential role in our past, present and future.”