Editing Compassion (section)

== Psychology ==
Compassion has become associated with and researched in the fields of [[positive psychology]] and social psychology.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jazaieri |first1=Hooria |last2=Jinpa |first2=Geshe Thupten |last3=McGonigal |first3=Kelly |last4=Rosenberg |first4=Erika L. |last5=Finkelstein |first5=Joel |last6=Simon-Thomas |first6=Emiliana |last7=Cullen |first7=Margaret |last8=Doty |first8=James R. |last9=Gross |first9=James J. |date=25 July 2012 |title=Enhancing Compassion: A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Compassion Cultivation Training Program |journal=Journal of Happiness Studies |language=en |volume=14 |issue=4 |pages=1113–1126 |citeseerx=10.1.1.362.5161 |doi=10.1007/s10902-012-9373-z |issn=1389-4978 |s2cid=17669639}}</ref> Compassion is a process of connecting by identifying with another person. This identification with others through compassion can lead to increased motivation to do something in an effort to relieve the suffering of others.

Compassion is an evolved function from the harmony of a three grid internal system{{technical inline|date=July 2023}}: contentment-and-peace system, goals-and-drives system, and threat-and-safety system. [[Paul Gilbert (psychologist)|Paul Gilbert]] defines these collectively as necessary regulated systems for compassion.<ref name="Gilbert2010">{{Cite book |first=Paul |last=Gilbert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=krNPL6xCVL0C |title=The Compassionate Mind: A New Approach to Life's Challenges |publisher=New Harbinger Publications |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-57224-840-3}}</ref>{{page needed|date=July 2023}}<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Gilbert |first=Paul |date=21 February 2014 |title=The origins and nature of compassion focused therapy |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjc.12043 |journal=British Journal of Clinical Psychology |language=en |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=6–41 |doi=10.1111/bjc.12043|pmid=24588760 |s2cid=22650614 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Paul Ekman describes a "taxonomy of compassion" including: emotional recognition (knowing how another person feels), emotional resonance (feeling emotions another person feels), familial connection (care-giver-offspring), global compassion (extending compassion to everyone in the world), sentient compassion (extended compassion to other species), and heroic compassion (compassion that comes with a risk).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Paul Ekman's Taxonomy of Compassion |url=https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/paul_ekmans_taxonomy_of_compassion |access-date=3 November 2020 |website=Greater Good |language=en}}</ref>

Ekman also distinguishes proximal (i.e. in the moment) from distal compassion (i.e. predicting the future; [[affective forecasting]]): "...it has implications in terms of how we go about encouraging compassion. We are all familiar with proximal compassion: Someone falls down in the street, and we help him get up. That's proximal compassion: where we see someone in need, and we help them. But, when I used to tell my kids, 'Wear a helmet,' that's distal compassion: trying to prevent harm before it occurs. And that requires a different set of skills: It requires social forecasting, anticipating harm before it occurs, and trying to prevent it. Distal compassion is much more amenable to educational influences, I think, and it's our real hope."<ref name=Eckman>{{Cite web |title=How to Cultivate Global Compassion |url=https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/paul_ekman_global_compassion |access-date=9 November 2020 |website=Greater Good |language=en}}</ref> Distal compassion also requires [[perspective-taking]].<ref name=Eckman />

Compassion is associated with psychological outcomes including increases in mindfulness and emotion regulation.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jazaieri |first1=Hooria |last2=McGonigal |first2=Kelly |last3=Jinpa |first3=Thupten |last4=Doty |first4=James R. |last5=Gross |first5=James J. |last6=Goldin |first6=Philippe R. |date=1 February 2014 |title=A randomized controlled trial of compassion cultivation training: Effects on mindfulness, affect, and emotion regulation |journal=Motivation and Emotion |language=en |volume=38 |issue=1 |pages=23–35 |doi=10.1007/s11031-013-9368-z |issn=1573-6644 |s2cid=35717645}}</ref>

While empathy plays an important role in motivating caring for others and in guiding moral behavior, [[Jean Decety]]'s research demonstrates that this is far from being systematic or irrespective to the social identity of the targets, interpersonal relationships, and social context. He proposes that [[empathic concern]] (compassion) has evolved to favor kin and members of one own social group, can bias social decision-making by valuing one single individual over a group of others, and this can frontally conflict with principles of [[Equity (law)|fairness]] and [[justice]].<ref>Decety, J., & Cowell, J. M. (2015). Empathy, justice and moral behavior. American Journal of Bioethics – Neuroscience, 6(3), 3–14.</ref>

=== Compassion fatigue ===
{{Further|Compassion fatigue}}
People with a higher capacity or responsibility to empathize with others may be at risk for "compassion fatigue", also called "secondary traumatic stress". Examples of people at risk for compassion fatigue are those who spend significant time responding to information related to suffering.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite book |year=2013 |editor-last=Figley |editor-first=Charles R. |title=Treating Compassion Fatigue | doi=10.4324/9780203890318|isbn=9781135454609 }}
|2={{Cite book |last=Figley |first=Charles |title=Compassion Fatigue: Coping With Secondary Traumatic Stress Disorder In Those Who Treat The Traumatized |publisher=Brunner-Routledge |year=1995 |isbn=978-0876307595 |location=London}}
}}</ref> However, newer research by [[Tania Singer|Singer]] and [[Matthieu Ricard|Ricard]] suggests that it is lack of suitable [[distress tolerance]] that gets people fatigued from compassion activities.<ref name="Altruism: Ricard">{{Cite book |last=Ricard |first=Matthieu |title=Altruism: The Power of Compassion to Change Yourself and the World |publisher=Brown and Company |year=2015 |isbn=978-0316208246 |pages=56–64 |chapter=IV |chapter-url=http://info-buddhism.com/Empathy-Compassion-Neuroscience-Ricard-Altruism.html}}</ref> Individuals at risk for compassion fatigue usually display these four key attributes: diminished endurance and/or energy, declined empathic ability, helplessness and/or hopelessness, and emotional exhaustion.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Jenkins |first1=Belinda |last2=Warren |first2=Nancy A. |date=October 2012 |title=Concept Analysis |journal=Critical Care Nursing Quarterly |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=388–395 |doi=10.1097/cnq.0b013e318268fe09 |pmid=22948373 |issn=0887-9303}}</ref> Negative coping skills can also increase the risk of developing compassion fatigue.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Dreisoerner |first1=Aljoscha |last2=Junker |first2=Nina Mareen |last3=van Dick |first3=Rolf |date=2021 |title=The Relationship Among the Components of Self-compassion: A Pilot Study Using a Compassionate Writing Intervention to Enhance Self-kindness, Common Humanity, and Mindfulness |journal=Journal of Happiness Studies |language=en |volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=21–47 |doi=10.1007/s10902-019-00217-4 |s2cid=254699280 |issn=1389-4978|doi-access=free }}</ref>

People can alleviate sorrow and distress by doing self-care activities on a regular basis. {{clarify|text=Improving consciousness|date=July 2023}} helps to guide people to recognize the impact and circumstances of past events. After people {{clarify|text=learn the experience from the situation in the past|date=July 2023}}, they are able to find the causes of compassion fatigue in their daily life.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Patrica |date=2020 |title=What is compassion fatigue? |url=https://www.compassionfatigue.org/index.html |access-date=11 November 2020 |website=Compassion Fatigue Awareness Project}}</ref> Practice of nonjudgmental compassion can prevent fatigue and [[Occupational burnout|burnout]].<ref name="Klimecki">{{Cite journal|last1=Klimecki|first1=O.M.|last2=Leiberg|first2=S.|last3=Ricard|first3=M.|last4=Singer|first4=T.|year=2014|title=Differential pattern of functional brain plasticity after compassion and empathy training|journal=Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience|volume=9|number=6|pages=873–879|doi=10.1093/scan/nst060 |pmid=23576808 |pmc=4040103 }}</ref> Some methods that can help people to heal compassion fatigue include physical activity, eating healthy food with every meal, good relations with others, enjoying interacting with others in the community, writing a journal frequently, and sleeping enough every day.<ref name=":0" /> The practice of mindfulness and self-awareness also helps with compassion fatigue.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hernandez-Wolfe |first=Pilar |date=October 2018 |title=Vicarious Resilience: A Comprehensive Review |journal=Revista de Estudios Sociales |issue=66 |pages=9–17 |doi=10.7440/res66.2018.02 |s2cid=150291525 |issn=0123-885X|doi-access=free }}</ref>

=== Conditions that influence compassion ===
Psychologist Paul Gilbert identifies several factors that can reduce a person's willingness to show compassion toward others. These include lower levels of perceived likability, competence, deservedness, and empathic capacity, as well as higher levels of self-focused competitiveness, anxiety and depression, feelings of being overwhelmed, and inhibiting influences within social structures and systems.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite web |title=Paul Gilbert—Compassion for the dark side |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xSOHOfG2yE |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211117/-xSOHOfG2yE |archive-date=17 November 2021 |access-date=1 December 2020 |website=YouTube| date=23 December 2017 }}{{cbignore}}
|2={{Cite journal |last1=Crimston |first1=Charlie R. |last2=Blessing |first2=Sarah |last3=Gilbert |first3=Paul |last4=Kirby |first4=James N. |date=2021-07-17 |title=Fear leads to suffering: Fears of compassion predict restriction of the moral boundary |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/bjso.12483 |journal=British Journal of Social Psychology |language=en |volume=61 |issue=1 |pages=345–365 |doi=10.1111/bjso.12483 |pmid=34279046 |s2cid=236091116 |issn=0144-6665|url-access=subscription }}
}}</ref>

==== Compassion fade ====
{{Further|Compassion fade|Identifiable victim effect}}
Compassion fade is the tendency of people to experience a decrease in empathy as the number of people in need of aid increases. The term was coined by psychologist Paul Slovic.<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{cite journal|last=Ahmed|first=F.|year=2017|title=Profile of Paul Slovic|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|volume=114|number=10|pages=2437–2439|doi=10.1073/pnas.1701967114 |jstor=26480045 |pmid=28265067 |pmc=5347577 |bibcode=2017PNAS..114.2437A |doi-access=free }}
|2={{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=James |year=2011 |title=The Arithmetic of Compassion: Rethinking the Politics of Photography |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S0007123410000487/type/journal_article |journal=British Journal of Political Science |language=en |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=621–643 |doi=10.1017/S0007123410000487 |s2cid=231794910 |issn=0007-1234|url-access=subscription }}
|3={{cite journal | last1=Västfjäll | first1=Daniel | last2=Slovic | first2=Paul | last3=Mayorga | first3=Marcus | last4=Peters | first4=Ellen | title=Compassion Fade: Affect and Charity Are Greatest for a Single Child in Need | journal=PLOS ONE | publisher=Public Library of Science (PLoS) | volume=9 | issue=6 | year=2014 | issn=1932-6203 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0100115 | page=e100115 | pmid=24940738 | pmc=4062481 | bibcode=2014PLoSO...9j0115V | doi-access=free}}
}}</ref> It is a type of [[cognitive bias]] that people use to justify their decision to help or not to help, and to ignore certain information.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Morris|first1=S.|last2=Cranney|first2=J.|year=2018|chapter=2: The imperfect mind|title=The Rubber Brain|pages=19–42|publisher=Australian Academic Press}}</ref> To turn compassion into compassionate behavior requires {{clarify|text=the singular person's response to the group in need, followed by motivation to help that can lead to action|date=July 2023}}.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Butts |first1=Marcus M. |last2=Lunt |first2=Devin C. |last3=Freling |first3=Traci L. |last4=Gabriel |first4=Allison S. |date=March 2019 |title=Helping one or helping many? A theoretical integration and meta-analytic review of the compassion fade literature |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0749597818302930 |journal=Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes |language=en |volume=151 |pages=16–33 |doi=10.1016/j.obhdp.2018.12.006|s2cid=149806445 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

In an examination of the motivated regulation of compassion in the context of large-scale crises, such as natural disasters and genocides, research established that people tend to feel more compassion for single identifiable victims than single anonymous victims or large masses of victims (the [[Identifiable victim effect]]).<ref>{{multiref2
|1={{Cite journal |last1=Lee |first1=Seyoung |last2=Feeley |first2=Thomas Hugh |year=2016 |title=The identifiable victim effect: a meta-analytic review |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15534510.2016.1216891 |journal=Social Influence |language=en |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=199–215 |doi=10.1080/15534510.2016.1216891 |s2cid=152232362 |issn=1553-4510|url-access=subscription }}
|2={{cite journal | last1=Kogut | first1=Tehila | last2=Ritov | first2=Ilana | title=The "identified victim" effect: an identified group, or just a single individual? | journal=Journal of Behavioral Decision Making | publisher=Wiley | volume=18 | issue=3 | year=2005 | issn=0894-3257 | doi=10.1002/bdm.492 | pages=157–167}}
}}</ref> People only show less compassion for many victims than for single victims of disasters when they expect to incur a financial cost upon helping. This [[collapse of compassion]] depends on having the motivation and ability to regulate emotions.<ref>{{cite journal| doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0199535| doi-access=free| title=The elusive power of the individual victim: Failure to find a difference in the effectiveness of charitable appeals focused on one compared to many victims| year=2018| last1=Hart| first1=P. Sol| last2=Lane| first2=Dan| last3=Chinn| first3=Sedona| journal=PLOS ONE| volume=13| issue=7| pages=e0199535| pmid=30020998| pmc=6051573| bibcode=2018PLoSO..1399535H}}</ref> People are more apt to offer help to a certain number of needy people if that number is closer to the whole number of people in need.<ref>{{cite journal|year=1997|journal=Journal of Risk and Uncertainty|title=Insensitivity to the Value of Human Life: A Study of Psychophysical Numbing|first1=David|last1=Fetherstonhaugh|first2=Paul|last2=Slovic|first3=Stephen|last3=Johnson|first4=James|last4=Friedrich|volume=14|issue=3 |pages=283–300|doi=10.1023/A:1007744326393 |s2cid=51033376 }}</ref> Humans feel more compassionate towards members of another species the more recently their species had a common ancestor.<ref>{{cite journal | last1=Miralles | first1=Aurélien | last2=Raymond | first2=Michel | last3=Lecointre | first3=Guillaume | title=Empathy and compassion toward other species decrease with evolutionary divergence time | journal=Scientific Reports | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=9 | issue=1 | date=20 December 2019 | page=19555 | issn=2045-2322 | doi=10.1038/s41598-019-56006-9| pmid=31862944 | pmc=6925286 | bibcode=2019NatSR...919555M }}</ref>

In laboratory research, psychologists are exploring how concerns about becoming emotionally exhausted may motivate people to curb their compassion for—and dehumanize—members of stigmatized social groups, such as homeless individuals and drug addicts.<ref>Cameron, Harris, & Payne, in prep{{Full citation needed|date=July 2023}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2023}}