Page 317 - The Social Animal

Human Aggression 299

icant decreases in aggressive behavior. Similarly, Georgina Ham-
mock and Deborah Richardson 116 demonstrated that empathy is an
important buffer against committing acts of extreme aggression.
When the researchers placed college students in a situation in which
they were instructed to deliver electric shocks to a fellow student,
those who had learned to experience empathic concern for the feel-
ings of others delivered less severe shocks than those who were less
empathic. Ken-ichi Obuchi and his colleagues, 117 working with
Japanese students, found similar results. Obuchi instructed students
to deliver electric shocks to another student as part of a learning ex-
periment. In one condition, prior to receiving the shocks, the victims
first disclosed something personal about themselves—thus opening
the door to the formation of empathy; in the control condition, the
victims were not afforded an opportunity for self-disclosure. Subjects
in the disclosure condition administered much milder shocks than
subjects in the nondisclosure condition.
The research on building empathy has encouraging implications
for the possible elimination of tragedies such as the Columbine mas-
sacre described earlier. In the following chapter, I will elaborate on
this and other strategies for coping with aggression and prejudice.