The Neuroscience of Empathy: Research-Overview and Implications for Human-Centred Design

Empathy is a central concept in design thinking. According to human-centred design, developers of novel products shall strive for a good understanding of product users, in order to design for their needs. This requires sophisticated cognitive capacities on behalf of the designers: being able to distinguish between their own knowledge states and needs versus that of the users. An IT expert who develops a banking app for elderly people must be able to imagine what it is like for an extreme user—such as an elderly person, who can barely use a mobile phone—to learn about online banking. What goes on in the design thinker’s mind when he or she tries to understand a user? What sub-capacities are involved, where the design thinker may be more or less capable? What routes to “understanding others” are promoted and taught by means of design thinking empathy methods? Neuroscience has produced a cornucopia of research studies on the biological underpinnings of understanding others. In this chapter, we review insights from neuroscience on how humans understand fellow people. This includes an overview of conceptual distinctions and sub-capacities, such as empathy versus compassion, or affective versus cognitive routes of social understanding. We also review measurement approaches that can be used in design thinking research and human-centred design practice to assess people’s abilities of understanding others. Moreover, the chapter discusses biases and pitfalls in understanding others, such as a natural tendency of the human brain to react less (to “empathise less”) with persons who seem to be particularly different from us.