The Empathy Gap: Building Bridges to the Good Life and the Good Society Hardcover - 2009

by J. D. Trout

A road map to a better societylinking the cognitive psychologyof individual and social decisionmaking

Drawing on his sweeping and innovative research,philosopher and cognitive scientist J. D. Trout recruitsthe latest findings in psychology, behavioral economics,and neuroscience to answer the question: How can wemake better personal decisions and design social policiesthat improve the lives of everyone?

Empathy prompts us to roll up our sleeves.Empathy for the risk and suffering of our fellowcitizens can lead to moral outrage, more decent laws,and fairer policies. But new research on judgment anddecision making has revealed that the human mindmakes decisions that undermine the best interests ofthe individual and society alike. Empathy is an admirableimpulse, but alone it is unreliable. It needs to bebalanced by rationality if we are to develop a responsiblesocial approach to decent and democratic policymaking.

With penetrating insight into our cognitive andempathic limitations, Trout offers pragmatic politicalsolutions to vault these crippling psychological barriersand outlines the best way to use our brains andour policies to improve society and the life of everyindividual.