Report 94

Empathy seems a natural feeling for others that promotes us to try to help them if we can. Perhaps lack of empathy is caused by our minds working too hard to ensure our own individual survival. We separate ourselves in a selfish way. But though this separation might give short term individual gains it stops us seeing and responding to the needs of others and is actually detrimental to our own well being.

It seems that a lack of empathy can be caused by a cognitive deficiency and people on the Autism spectrum can fail to have a 'theory of mind' that lets them realise 'attribute mental states to others, to infer what someone else is thinking or feeling.' http://www.autismresearchcentre.com/...oject.asp?id=1