Phil HarrisMar 7, 20213 minWisdom vs LonelinessResearch over the last decade has shown that loneliness is an important determinant of health. It is associated with considerable...
Phil HarrisOct 23, 20204 minFriends: Why We Get Picky?We like people like us. However, as we age, we get even more selective about our friendship groups. When humans age, they tend to favor...
Phil HarrisSep 11, 20203 minBinge Alcohol-Lose EmpathyPeople who binge-drink show more extensive dysfunction across their brains than previously realised, a new study from the University of...
Phil HarrisJun 15, 20205 minName Emotion Tame EmotionI was recently looking for some research on a separate project and came across this early pioneering study in language and emotional...
Phil HarrisApr 29, 20201 minCan Low Empathy Be Toxic?In Training and in Reflective Practice sessions the issue of empathy, relationships and outcomes is often discussed. This is...
Phil HarrisMar 27, 20203 minHow to Support Others on Lock DownIn uncertain times, supporting your friends and family can help them make it through. But your comforting words can have different...
Phil HarrisNov 10, 20191 minIf You are Reading This, You are Probably Very WEIRDI have often said that what we really know about psychology is what we actually know about psychology students. These tend to be the...
Phil HarrisMay 19, 20193 minArtificial Intelligence Therapist are on Their Way-But What are the Rules?Interactions with artificial intelligence (AI) will become an increasingly common aspect of our lives. A team at the Technical University...
Phil HarrisApr 24, 20193 minEmpathy: Too Much Like Hard Work?Empathy, the ability to understand the feelings of another person, is often viewed as a virtue that encourages helping behaviors. But...
Phil HarrisApr 13, 20192 minThe Evolution of EmpathyResearchers at the Max Planck Institute and the Santa Fe Institute have developed a new model to explain the evolutionary origins of...
Phil HarrisDec 2, 20181 minThe Magic Cure for Alcoholism: EmpathyA great privilege of running this blog is to share some of the work of practitioners who have inspired me but whose work is not often as...
Phil HarrisSep 1, 20185 minFree Online Compassion Training from the Center for Healthy MindsWorking with trauma is hard. Being exposed to the pain and suffering others can have significant impact on us as a worker and as a human...
Phil HarrisAug 22, 20183 minKill with Kindness: Why Too Much Empathy is a Bad ThingPeople who empathize easily with others do not necessarily understand them well. To the contrary: Excessive empathy can even impair...
Phil HarrisAug 22, 20185 minHead or Heart, But Not Both: Empathy in the BrainNew research shows a simple reason why even the most intelligent, complex brains can be taken by a swindler's story -- one that upon a...
Phil HarrisAug 22, 20184 minThe D-Factor: How Evil Are You?Is there such a thing as an evil personality type? This is a challenging question for many in the field. By and large, people who are...
Phil HarrisAug 9, 20181 minCould You Switch Off A Robot That Was Begging for Its Life?I love what moral dilemmas can tell us about our brains and how we make decisions. This is a great example of a moral dilemma which pits...
Phil HarrisJul 4, 20183 minEmotional Pitch and SpeechIn teaching Motivational Interviewing I describe how we need to listen to the emotional emphasis of the client's statements rather than...
Phil HarrisJun 21, 20182 minThe Empathy AssumptionRecently, researchers have debunked the theories canonized in Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People that assume you...
Phil HarrisSep 14, 20171 minSee Empathy Develop in Real TimeIn lecturers and training on adolescent development I often discuss the emergence of empathy during puberty. Now research has caught the...
Phil HarrisJul 24, 20171 minSynchronicity: The Deep Impact of CommunicationHow many times have you heard people deride counselling based interventions as just "talk." Interesting advances in brain imaging has...