Source: GreenMedInfo
New research flying in the face of many popular and not-so-forgiving views about ‘human nature’ indicates there is an olfactory-based, evolutionary mechanism built into the human genome/soul to feel empathy for the anxiety/suffering of others.
In a fascinating study entitled “Induction of empathy by the smell of anxiety,” published in the journal of the Public Library of Science (PLoS) in 2009, researchers discovered “The chemosensory perception of human anxiety seems to automatically recruit empathy-related resources.