Is it possible to rehumanize the enemy?

The brain easily forms ingroups and outgroups – and shows different responses when viewing one or the other. At the extreme, the brain stops seeing outgroup members as people, but more like objects. But are there ways to rehumanize? And in this context, what do heroes look like? In this episode, Eagleman talks with two men — Maoz Inon and Aziz Abu Sarah — one Israeli and one Palestinian. The two men, full of pain and sorrow, are fighting. But they are fighting side by side. They are fighting to repair the future. Learn what peacebuilders are, how they function, and what this has to do with the neuroscience of dehumanization, ingroups, outgroups, and the possibilities — both political and neural — for rehumanization.

Episode Audio

Episode Video

More Information:

Uniting for a Shared Future: A Common Ground Charter

“A Palestinian and an Israeli, Face to Face.” TED Conference. April 2024.

“Hope with the Pope.” Linktree, linktr.ee/maoz_aziz.

Join Aziz and Maoz in their mission to foster a more interconnected and peaceful world

Israel and Palestine Beyond the Headlines – Travel to confront the complex realities of the current moment in Israel and Palestine.

Vaughn DA, Savjani RRS, Cohen MS, Eagleman DM. Empathic neural responses predict group allegiance. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. 2018 Jul 31;12:302.

Eagleman D, Vaughn D. Does your brain care about other people? It depends. The Economist. 2019.

Harris LT, Fiske ST. Dehumanizing the lowest of the low: Neuroimaging responses to extreme out-groups. Psychological science. 2006 Oct;17(10):847-53.

Harris LT, Fiske ST. Perceiving humanity or not: A social neuroscience approach to dehumanized perception. Social neuroscience: Toward understanding the underpinnings of the social mind. 2011 Feb 11:123-34.

Bernhardt BC, Singer T. The neural basis of empathy. Annual review of neuroscience. 2012 Jul 21;35:1-23.

Eagleman, DM. PBS: The Brain with David Eagleman. Episode Five: Why do I need you. 2016.

Interested in the neuroscientific basis of polarization? Check out these other episodes of Inner Cosmos:
Ep 20: Empathy and its limits
Ep 21: How far would you follow authority?
Ep 52: Can societies fight better?
Ep 16: Why we all believe our own truths
Ep 60: Can we think better by wrestling with conflicting ideas?
And Eps 40, 41, & 42 on whether there’s any such thing as true news.

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