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Zero Degrees of Empathy: A New Theory of Human Cruelty, Simon Baron-Cohen, London, Allen Lane,
2011
, pp. 208, ISBN 978–0713997910 (hb), £20.00
Colin Pritchard Professor School of Health and Social Care, Bournemouth University Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic
The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 42, Issue 3, April 2012, Pages 579–581, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcs031
Published:
01 April 2012
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Colin Pritchard, Zero Degrees of Empathy: A New Theory of Human Cruelty, The British Journal of Social Work, Volume 42, Issue 3, April 2012, Pages 579–581, https://doi.org/10.1093/bjsw/bcs031
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Conjure in your mind a two-year-old infant laughing and splashing in the bath, whilst looking like a skinned rabbit; his personality fills the home. Then ask yourself how anybody can be persistently cruel to a child like this? The answer is found in this concise, seminal, mind-changing, essential evidence-based book Zero Degrees of Empathy. It gives us a ‘new theory of human cruelty’, reinforcing the fundamental work of John Bowlby and the importance of attachment to human personal development from neuro-science research, as he explores ‘the basis of empathy looking at its social and biological determinants’ so as ‘to understand human cruelty and the loss of empathy, replacing the unscientific term “evil” with the scientific term empathy’ (p.xi).
Baron-Cohen brings his humanitarian and progressive research from the field of the autistic spectrum, highlighting the constant interaction and inter-dependency of the biological–psychological–social interface. In a sympathetic use of case examples, he puts flesh on the research results that show how some people with minimal or zero empathy can be so self-destructively indifferent, callous and, at the extreme, persistently cruel and kill. In a remarkably easy and accessible way, he introduces to us applied neurophysiology that shows how modern imaging techniques are opening up understanding of psycho-social responses and physiological reaction at the core of human behaviour.
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