08.10.2026 Listen up: Philipp Kanske on empathy in WDR 5’s “Innenwelt”

What makes a person empathic - and can empathy be trained?

These questions are at the heart of the latest episode of Innenwelt, WDR 5’s psychology podcast. The guest is Prof. Philipp Kanske, Professor for Clinical Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at TU Dresden and Principal Investigator in SFB/TRR 393 projects B05 and C03. In this approximately 50-minute episode, he provides insights into current empathy research and explains how the cognitive and emotional processes involved in empathy can be investigated scientifically.

The conversation explores how empathy can be studied in the brain, when people are perceived as particularly empathic, and whether women and men differ in their empathic abilities. Philipp Kanske also discusses whether people can accurately assess their own empathy, how empathy can be trained, and why self-empathy matters.

The episode offers an accessible insight into current psychological and neuroscientific research and shows how fundamental research connects to questions from everyday life.

Listen to it in the WDR mediathek (or on any other podcast platform): WDR Mediathek