ABSTRACT
Compassion is clearly linked to the evolution of caring behaviour, altruism and prosocial behaviour in general. The last 20 years have seen increasing research into the nature and benefits of all these. For compassion, these include a range of effects on psychological processes, social relationships and physiological processes that extend to genetic expression. Hoge found that women with experience of loving-kindness meditation had longer relative telomere length than controls. Compassionate motives benefit social relationships and well-being, whereas ego self-focused motives do not. Compassion has become the focus for psychotherapeutic interventions with increasing evidence for its effectiveness. Listing potential characteristics of compassion, a kind of diagnostic approach can be supported with a functional approach that focuses on motivation. Schopenhauer, who was deeply influenced by Buddhist thought, and one of the first Western thinkers to introduce compassion into philosophy, argued that compassion was one of the highest and most important qualities of humanity.
