Neuroimaging Empathy's Role in Prosocial Behavior

In the article, “An fMRI Investigation of Empathy for ‘Social Pain’ and Subsequent Prosocial Behavior”, authors Carrie L. Mastena, Sylvia A. Morellib, Naomi I. Eisenbergerb talks about a study of how the brain reacts to empathy and how it can be used to promote prosocial behavior. It places an emphasis on the importance and often overlooked aspect neuroimaging research of empathy for social behavior and how it affects people’s social experiences. The authors themselves are the ones responsible for the research conducted.

Empathy is an important part of research on prosocial behavior and few would argue otherwise, however, when it comes to neuroimaging the aspect of empathy is often left out. The study is heavily based on the scientific function

Understanding the effects of empathy towards social experiences rather than psychical pain or general pain could lead to an increase in prosocial actions of individuals as a result of witnessing social experiences due to the understanding of the brain functions and how it responds to different stimuli. However, the disadvantages could be that the research intended for better understanding of how the brain function could not lead to any fruition; it could prove to only serve as another tidbit of virtually useless

In addition, if the population was of a different origin, a wider range in ages and societal upbringings. The research in the articles study is about the brain function required for an emotional response of empathy, other studies have proven that people from different backgrounds and society will react differently based on their societies influences and principles, it is possible that a very different populace will have a different reaction and may provide very different results in how they process social