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Mirror Neurons, Psychoanalysis, and the Age of Empathy
Author(s) -
Alford C. Fred
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
international journal of applied psychoanalytic studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.314
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1556-9187
pISSN - 1742-3341
DOI - 10.1002/aps.1411
Subject(s) - empathy , mirror neuron , countertransference , argument (complex analysis) , action (physics) , perspective (graphical) , psychoanalysis , psychology , epistemology , psychotherapist , philosophy , cognitive science , social psychology , medicine , physics , computer science , artificial intelligence , quantum mechanics
A number of psychoanalysts have become excited about mirror neurons, as they are called by neuroscientists. Mirror neurons have the remarkable property of responding identically to an action I intend as well as an action you intend. The argument of some psychoanalysts is that mirror neurons open a new pathway to understanding the intentions of other. They make possible a new type of empathy, more direct and less mediated by the typical defenses. One result of such a perspective on psychoanalysis is the virtual death of the countertransference. If one has direct empathic contact with another mind, then countertransferential experience is only a barrier, not a guide. The essay not only looks at the evidence for mirror neurons, which is ambiguous, but also at what need they might be filling in our contemporary culture. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.