The Science of Empathy (And Rats) | Sci Guys Podcast

Can rats feel empathy? It’s a tough question to tackle, and many scientists have worked on it over the years… but is it even possible to find the answer?
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References & Further Reading
1. www.science.org/doi/full/10.1...
2. link.springer.com/article/10....
3. www.britannica.com/science/em...
4. link.springer.com/referencewo...
5. link.springer.com/referencewo...
6. psycnet.apa.org/record/1962-0...
7. www.nature.com/articles/s4138...
8. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti...
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[@SciGuys]

Are you an empath?

[@loadless2265]

no

[@leej2864]

empathetic, yes. able to read people, hell no. empath? no fucking idea what that even means.

[@adamalkhawaja2003]

No

[@kayleigh1991]

Shane Dawson really messed up the term for me lol

[@More13Feen]

I uswd to think I was when I was caught in the toxic world of empath vs narcs. Turns out I am actualy autistic and just get overwhelmed by emotion.

[@JasminUwU]

yay, captions!

[@SciGuys]

We’ve been captioning all of our episodes for over a year! :)

[@adamalkhawaja2003]

Yay!

[@ixykix]

Not sure about the females being more empathetic, we found our girls were just very very quick at puzzle solving and learnt to open cage doors very fast from the inside. Just a thought. A friend who exclusively had male rats commented that the girls appeared to problem solve much quicker, compared with her boys.

[@coralovesnature]

That’s a good point!

[@ixykix]

My science brain = "hmm, interesting topic" My cuteness detection centre = "RATTEHS!" I had pet fancy rats for many many years and anecdotally I would be able to bring up many occasions where I felt that the rats in our family showed evidence of empathy in their behaviours towards me (and my family). As you'd expect, rats are very VERY motivated by food. But we had certainly observed our pets choosing to sit on our shoulders for unusually long periods of time (with no food reward involved) when one of us was crying or feeling very unwell. I'll add that we always had female rats who notoriously appear to detest sitting still for long (unless they are resting or sleeping). Easy to anthropomorphosize animals but these instances of changed behaviour were certainly unusual to our eyes. Obviously we were behaving differently as their familiar humans, so they may of course have been seeking us out for reassurance.

[@ixykix]

So many memories of rats diving into mouths 😆 we had a fervent Rodentist at one point - couldn't get enough of grooming human teeth!

[@lorenzwinterhoff8049]

I have several rats, they have control over my bedroom. I have disability issues, so cages are a problem, but I have my ways, and my rats are definitely my reason to get out of bed. Rats are very social creatures, and there are differences all over the map (I'm sure you are aware, this is for the uninitiated). Grooming is also a big thing, not unlike primate grooming, it's as much social as it is keeping clean! I had a rodentist or two in my time, but the curiosity piqued with one that would yank on my ear chain (an accessory attached to my hearing aid to help prevent fall damage) Gotta love a curious pocket pet!

[@cryptidkyle5528]

I haven’t even finished the video and this is probably one of my favorite episodes thus far. Cannot say I’m an empath, but many of these rats seem to be. I’m going to be thinking about fake rat gender norms for weeks because of the female and male rat empathy response thing.

[@c.k.g.]

Think I could be an empath. Whenever I'm watching a gory movie and someone gets hurt, say they get stabbed in the leg, I will flinch and hold my leg and it kinda aches slightly. Also, I'm not particularly expressive when it comes to my own emotions, but when I see someone else cry I will tear up as well. Also generally feel very affected by others emotions, I can feel thrown off by it or up lifted by them. Can't say I'm great at reading social cues or knowing what's appropriate in social situations, but when it comes to body language and individual's emotions I'm very good. This is why I'm so curious to whether being an "empath" is really a thing and what that means if it is.

[@kayleigh1991]

I've been in hospital with terrible internet connection for a while so I'm glad to catch up

[@lauraevans6285]

big empath!

[@cheyennerusso2773]

I just got two rats yesterday it’s so creepy that this episode is about rats

[@Drawoon]

rats! I love rats!

[@pokemonfanthings4444]

I value empathy, but I don’t like the term ‘empath’. Every time I hear someone describe themselves they way it’s either suspicious or cringe

[@coralovesnature]

I am not an empath, but I would save Luke before the chocolate chips.

[@saskiahorton]

USP is definetley nonsense entrenched facts.. love IT

[@barrys1710]

The answer to the very basic question you pose is yes, scientists have found the answer and rats do indeed exhibit empathy. And so you can shit on me and others who sacrifice to help others(I know this is hard for you to comprehend) I am an empath. I feel emotional as well as physical manifestations when I see another sentient being suffering. And yes, their suffering does matter even after they have passed. It shouldn't be that difficult for Cory to understand that trauma creates a trauma response, but for some reason Cory struggles with this notion. Cory also seems to believe that the quality or suffering of ones life does not matter once they are gone. It's not hard to see why he would doubt anyone has empathy, as he does not either posses empathy or does not recognize it in himself. Rats will refuse food if it means another rat gets shocked as a result. If I am ever part of an experiment where there is food and a lever that delivers a shock, I want Luke to be in charge of that please.

[@deannaweir-smyth3114]

I love to be a empath, but I'm not.

[@ebbanosen]

Haha I’m high

[@scotfraser9989]

Weeeeeeeeeeeeeed 🚬🐀

[@adamalkhawaja2003]

Nope