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How Can Playing A Game Make You More Empathetic?

Research finds playing a collaborative video game like Rock Band makes you more comfortable with strangers.
Paul Sakuma
/
AP
Research finds playing a collaborative video game like Rock Band makes you more comfortable with strangers.

Part 1 of the TED Radio Hour episode Press Play

Why is it so hard to feel empathy for strangers? Because we're stressed by them, says neuroscientist Jeff Mogil. His research suggests one way to reduce that stress: play Rock Band together.

About Jeff Mogil

Dr. Jeffrey Mogil is the E.P. Taylor Professor of Pain Studies and the Canada Research Chair in the Genetics of Pain at McGill University. He is the author of the textbook The Genetics of Pain. Mogil is the author of more than 150 articles and book chapters, and has given over two hundred invited lectures. He has served as a section editor at the journal Pain since 2008 and was the Chair of the Scientific Planning Committee for the 13th World Congress on Pain in August 2010.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

NPR/TED Staff