how do we as a species define compassion, and how has it effected our evolution?

Answer 1

There are a couple good answers preceding this but I'm going to try another.

Compassion is the good will a person has for another coupled with an empathy for their feelings. An example of compassion is mother love wherein a human female will go so far as to give up her life for her infant or child. This compassion is responsible for the progress of the human species in my estimation for we are all dependent on mother love for survival until we, ourselves, can reproduce.

The loving nurture of mothers has worked because the majority of the human species lives in harmony with one another. If this were not true the world would be in complete chaos like is developing in the Middle East. There are sadly always a few who do not benefit from the TLC of mothers and they are the few who usually featured in the sordid news.

Answer 2

Compassion=a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. (from dictionary.com)

Compassion is just a form of altruism. Altruism in social species (such as humans) is a way of helping others of the social group at the expense of the individual. A non-human example would be the division of labor in bee or ant colonies. One group (caste) within each of these colonies takes care of the young, even though they are not the parents of the young. Another caste goes to gather food for the entire colony. Another protects the colony from invaders.

In terms of evolution, altruism is usually a favorable trait. It allows for a couple of things: a larger number of the species will survive due the scarifice of the one, or a younger, more reproductively viable member of the species will survive at the expense of an older, less reproductively viable member.

In other words, if your actions make more of your species better able to handle environmental pressure and adapt to change more readily, your species becomes more likely to succeed (not go extinct) in an evolutionary sense.

Answer 3

Compassion in others may be seen as a positive trait, leading to a higher chance of being selected as a partner, generally by someone who has the same or similar traits. In this way, compassion has survived in society.
This would, I think, come under the generally grouping of sexual selection, similar to female birds picking mates with desirable features, in their case plumage.

.

Answer 4

Compassion is what makes you care, what makes you act when you see suffering, animal or human...doesn't matter.
compassion is that rare feeling ...that you don't see very often.
Well..look around you..how much compassion do you see?we've evolved to be one mean , mean race...Well that's just my opinion.