Bernay Brown: Mirror neurons were discovered by, in the early 90s, by an Italian scientist. He placed electrodes on monkey's brains and allowed another monkey to peel and open and eat a banana in front of that monkey with the electrodes. The monkey who did not have the banana had parts of his brain light up as if he was peeling and eating the banana. This is mirror neuron at work. They're actually feeling what the other is feeling. And there's another experiment with the mirror neurons that it's really fascinating too. It's known as the still face experiment. We started studying 34 years ago when people didn't think that infants could engage in social interaction. But check out
Jason Ogle proves that empathic design is not only possible, but essential in creating life-changing products and services. He enlightens us to our seldom talked about mirror neurons and the critical role they play in user testing. He shines a spotlight on incredibly powerful and moving examples of empathy in design. He also teaches us how empathy can not only be taught and learned, but practiced, because being great designer begins and ends with being a great human.
- Intro Story (00:24)
- What is Empathy? (5:04)
- Mirror Neurons (9:14)
- Still Face Experiment (11:17)
- Mirror Neurons and Movies (15:59)
- Inspiring Examples from IDEO (19:19)
- Doug Dietz's Empathy for Terminally Ill Children (23:35)
- Margaret Hamilton's Empathy for Apollo 11 (29:44)
- Can We Grow in Empathy? (34:07)
- Seth Godin Explaining Empathy (35:21)
- Put Your Oxygen Mask on First (36:10)
- Seth Godin on Faked Empathy (39:19)
- Seth Godin on Being Indispensable in an AI World (40:57)
- Empathy & Mindfulness (43:23)
- Rise to the Empathy Challenge (45:55)
Those who are able, should definitely check out the video of this episode with the compelling clips inserted. The video, and detailed show notes including mentioned links, transcript and Eli Jorgensen’s astonishing superhero artwork at userdefenders.com/061
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