Empathy Can Be Built, Botox Destroys Empathy, How A Killer's Brain Differs From Yours

"I recently interviewed Dr. Richard Davidson, a pioneer in the emerging neuroscience of emotion. According to Dr. Davidson, who chairs The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, emotional styles – such as being empathetic, altruistic, optimistic, and resilient – have a neural basis, and you can change your emotional style through mental practice. In other words, how you think directly affects how you feel – both emotionally and physically.
But Botox users beware: According to one study, women who paralyze their facial muscles may show less empathy – and also feel less empathy as well."
 - Barbara Bradley Hagerty, former NPR reporter, author


A Neuroscientist Uncovers A Dark Secret:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127888976

Fallon's brain (on the right) has dark patches in the orbital cortex, the area just behind the eyes. This is the area that Fallon and other scientists say is involved with ethical behavior, moral decision-making and impulse control. The normal scan on the left is his son's. (Courtesy of Jim Fallon.)