Empathy is the ability to share and understand others' emotions. It helps people form relationships, act kindly, inspire collective action, and overcome bias. Empathy is also fragile, and often fails when we need it most— in the face of polarization, stress, and isolation. Thankfully, empathy is a skill that can develop with practice, and doing so is key to repairing our fraying social fabric.

Jamil Zaki is a professor of psychology at Stanford University and the director of the Stanford Social Neuroscience Lab. His research focuses on the cognitive and neural bases of social behavior, and in particular on how people understand each other's emotions, why they conform to each other, and why they choose to help each other. His book, The War for Kindness: Building Empathy in a Fractured World, was published in 2019.

If you need a disability-related accommodation or wheelchair access information, please contact the Diversity & Access Office at disability.access@stanford.edu. Requests should be made one week in advance of the event.