Behavioral scientists found that people who aren't genuinely good don't lack empathy - they possess what researchers call 'selective empathy' that activates only when there's an audience or when feeling someone's pain serves their narrative - Silicon Canals

"Empathy is not one thing. Research on empathy and the Dark Triad distinguishes between two fundamentally different systems. Cognitive empathy is the capacity to recognize and understand another person's mental states, to know what someone thinks and feels."

"The person who displays empathy selectively almost always has intact cognitive empathy. They can read the room. They know when someone is hurting. They understand the emotional dynamics of any situation they walk into."

"What they lack, or more precisely what they deploy selectively, is affective empathy. They do not automatically feel what you feel. They choose when to feel it, based on whether feeling it serves them."

Empathy consists of cognitive and affective components, which are neurologically distinct. Cognitive empathy allows individuals to understand others' feelings, while affective empathy involves sharing those feelings. Some individuals display empathy selectively, showing cognitive empathy in social situations but lacking consistent affective empathy. They can recognize emotional dynamics but choose when to engage emotionally, often influenced by the presence of an audience. This selective activation leads to confusion about their true empathetic nature, as they may appear empathetic in public but fail to respond similarly in private situations.

Read at Silicon Canals