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The Best and the Worst: Empathy and its Contribution to Morality.

Jean Decety, Ph.D., uses neuroimaging to study the emotional and cognitive reactions of children and adults to the experience of pain and misfortune in others. His research has even identified an empathic response in laboratory rats. Dr. Decety, who has appointments in both the departments of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Chicago, will present his research on the role of empathy as a mediator of moral decision making in both normal and psychopathic individuals.