Laboratory evidence suggests compassion can be trained like a skill. Helen Weng et al., Psychological Science (2013), found that brief compassion training increased altruistic behavior toward strangers. Olga Klimecki and Tania Singer (2014) showed that compassion (distinct from empathic distress) boosts positive affect and resilience, enabling care without burnout. Barbara Fredrickson’s broaden-and-build theory (2001) further argues that positive emotions widen perception and resourcefulness—key ingredients for wise, nonreactive action.
If compassion is trainable, then mercy can be routinized beyond individuals. That realization invites a shift from personal virtue to structural design. [...]
