A brain's failure to appreciate others may permit human atrocities

[Tank]

A brain's failure to appreciate others may permit human atrocities

A father in Louisiana bludgeoned and beheaded his disabled 7-year-old son last August because he no longer wanted to care for the boy.

For most people, such a heinous act is unconscionable.

But it may be that a person can become callous enough to commit human atrocities because of a failure in the part of the brain that's critical for social interaction. A new study by researchers at Duke University and Princeton University suggests this function may disengage when people encounter others they consider disgusting, thus "dehumanizing" their victims by failing to acknowledge they have thoughts and feelings.

This shortcoming also may help explain how propaganda depicting Tutsi in Rwanda as cockroaches and Hitler's classification of Jews in Nazi Germany as vermin contributed to torture and genocide, the study said.

"When we encounter a person, we usually infer something about their minds. Sometimes, we fail to do this, opening up the possibility that we do not perceive the person as fully human," said lead author Lasana Harris, an assistant professor in Duke University's Department of Psychology & Neuroscience and Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. Harris co-authored the study with Susan Fiske, a professor of psychology at Princeton University...

A subject recently encountered here.

[Ecurb Noselrub]

While not in any way condoning what the father did, I can imagine a parent becoming so exasperated at dealing with a disabled child that he becomes desensitized to the child's own suffering and humanity, and then ceases to see him as human altogether. If I see a disabled child, I sense an immediate rush of sympathy and compassion. But if I had to wipe that child's butt every day, and deal with his disability, and become overwhelmed with the prospect of perhaps having to care for the child for the rest of my life, I can imagine a completely different attitude developing.  It probably takes a very special person to be able to deal with the disabled day in and day out, and not begin to resent them somewhat.  In our tribal days, such children would have probably been exposed and left to die, as they would slow down the tribe too much and take too much of the scarse available resources.  Now, we don't do that anymore, but you still see it come to the surface in instances like this.  The father's failure to appreciate his own child's humanity is, in fact, part of his own humanity.  We are not always so glorious as a species.   

[Crocoduck]

I was caretaker of my Mother for the last two, almost three years of her life and I know it did things to me.
I can't say I ever viewed her as less then human but day in day out dealing with her illness combined with drugs that often left her nonsensical made it hard for me to do the best for her at times.
It's been over a decade or maybe two and I still deal with issues and wonder why I was so uncaring at times.
My Mom was also diabetic and needed three injections a day...so I had to stick needles in her and she would often cry when I did. I had to learn to suppress a very strong aversion to poking needles in my Mother and dealing with the crying because it was for her own good. I'm sure every parent has felt the same.
Someday we may understand how our brains/minds work until then many will try to understand our world via a very old book.

[xSilverPhinx]

I gain a sense of respect for others when I imagine trying to take just one step in their shoes. On the down side, I feel...disgust...at those who dehumanise others when they themselves are not emotionally capable of taking one step in that person's shoes. I just can't respect a person like that (don't be so quick to judge, it's very long story ).

Edited to add:

Someday we may understand how our brains/minds work until then many will try to understand our world via a very old book.

This^

I'm a very strong believer that awareness and understanding trump any old *cough* *cough* sacred *cough!* book.

[Crocoduck]

Someday we may understand how our brains/minds work until then many will try to understand our world via a very old book.

This^

I'm a very strong believer that awareness and understanding trump any old *cough* *cough* sacred *cough!* book.

Cough Cough Cough...we should have put on dust masks before opening that nusty old book

[xSilverPhinx]

Someday we may understand how our brains/minds work until then many will try to understand our world via a very old book.

This^

I'm a very strong believer that awareness and understanding trump any old *cough* *cough* sacred *cough!* book.

Cough Cough Cough...we should have put on dust masks before opening that nusty old book

Agreed. Some bible based ideas have been on the hand-me-down queue for too long.

[Sandra Craft]

A brain's failure to appreciate others may permit human atrocities

A father in Louisiana bludgeoned and beheaded his disabled 7-year-old son last August because he no longer wanted to care for the boy.

I remember this story when it first hit the news.  The father left the boy's decapitated head out on the road so that the mother would see it when she came home and "feel stupid" (presumably for wasting so much time on someone who was now dead).  In my opinion the father is a psychopath and, altho, his actions were extreme, pretty much in line with what can be expected from a psychopath.

The flaw in brain functioning I'd like to see investigated here is the mother's.  She'd gotten restraining orders against the father twice before -- once when she was pregnant with the boy -- so why was he anywhere near her home, much less living with her and left in charge of a kid even more helpless and vulnerable than most? 

The father barely qualifies as sub-human, I'd have less problem with the death penalty being used against him than I'd have with a rabid dog being put down.  It's the mother I'd like to see dissected to find out what on Earth was wrong with her brain.

[xSilverPhinx]

The father barely qualifies as sub-human, I'd have less problem with the death penalty being used against him than I'd have with a rabid dog being put down.  It's the mother I'd like to see dissected to find out what on Earth was wrong with her brain.

Is it misplaced to feel that monsters are monsters and de-humanise them? I've been wondering about this a bit...

[Sandra Craft]

The father barely qualifies as sub-human, I'd have less problem with the death penalty being used against him than I'd have with a rabid dog being put down.  It's the mother I'd like to see dissected to find out what on Earth was wrong with her brain.

Is it misplaced to feel that monsters are monsters and de-humanise them? I've been wondering about this a bit...

Oh I don't think I'm de-humanising the father -- barely sub-human or not, monsters of this sort are still in the category of human.  I'm just not inclined to give them any special privileges beyond those of a rabid dog.

[Pharaoh Cat]

The father left the boy's decapitated head out on the road so that the mother would see it when she came home and "feel stupid" (presumably for wasting so much time on someone who was now dead).

Or maybe feel stupid for leaving her kid alone with this man.

In my opinion the father is a psychopath and, altho, his actions were extreme, pretty much in line with what can be expected from a psychopath.

Certainly some inhibitor wasn't inhibiting.

The flaw in brain functioning I'd like to see investigated here is the mother's.  She'd gotten restraining orders against the father twice before -- once when she was pregnant with the boy -- so why was he anywhere near her home, much less living with her and left in charge of a kid even more helpless and vulnerable than most?

I wonder if she feels stupid now.
 

The father barely qualifies as sub-human,

Certainly he was lacking in even the most rudimentary restraint.  I wonder if the day will come when we can fix whatever was broken in his brain. 

I'd have less problem with the death penalty being used against him than I'd have with a rabid dog being put down.

I hate the fact that we can't cure rabies.  Killing the dog pisses me off.

It's the mother I'd like to see dissected to find out what on Earth was wrong with her brain.

Yes.  I wonder if she can be charged with criminal negligence.  I wonder mostly if this couple was an instance of "bad meets stupid" or "bad meets evil," apologies to Eminem and Royce.  Did the mother have an inkling what could happen and not care, or did she really not have an inkling?  Evil or stupid?  In any case, brain broken.  I wonder if one day we'll be able to fix someone like her.  Dissecting both brains might advance neuroscience.  Killing them to facilitate that would be reasonable, barring factors as yet unknown or at least unreported.