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As you get jostled in the daily rough and tumble, does it feel like other people care less about how rough you have it and how much you’re getting tumbled? Well, your suspicion may have some data to back it up. Because according to an article in Scientific American Mind magazine, analysis of surveys of college kids reveals that self-reported empathy has been dropping for the last 30 years. And empathy really took a nosedive in the last 10 years. [Jamil Zaki, "What, Me Care?"]
Nearly 14,000 student questionnaires that were completed in the last three decades were used for the study. And 75 percent of those surveyed today rated themselves as being less empathic than what was the average score 30 years ago.
One possible explanation is social isolation—we tend to do more things on our own and engage in fewer group activities than we used to. Another possible cause is a decrease in reading fiction for pleasure. Studies have found that the number of stories preschoolers read correlates with their ability to understand other people’s emotional states. The good news is that if empathy can go down, it can also go back up. You feel me?
—Steve Mirsky
[The above text is an exact transcript of this podcast.]
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17 Comments
Add CommentIs the ability of college students to empathize with others temporally representative of the general population of, what, a few college towns? Or do they represent the general population of college age workers? How about the general population of Tokyo? What do these findings of sampled students actually represent, if anything?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI actually don't necessarily dispute the conclusions of the researchers, but their methodology is statistically invalid.
In an (unspecified) population that has increased by half in the past 30 years, in addition to increasing urbanization, it should be expected that individuals may become more socially isolated. Unless these trends can be reversed, the increasing electronic insulation of individuals will likely tend to increase...
I think the self-delusion of empathy is probably down and real empathy is up slightly.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPeople feel less of a need to kid themselves about what they feel and maybe this is a good start.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI don't know... but what I see is that people feel more of a need to express random uninformed opinions about everything and maybe this is indeed a bad start.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"One possible explanation is social isolation" - If you decide to "twitter" this, or paste it to your Facebook page, you are part of the problem. Even if you ignored this informative article because you were busy turning zombie heads into pink mist with your auto shotgun, you're still part of the problem. As our lives become more virtual, we may all end up some day in a very small room with only a chair (very comfortable chair) and a helmet to wear; everything else will be virtual, including our empathy.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMost people will help someone who really needs some help.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisToday...people are just better at recognizing con-artists as lazy fakes who are out to get us into doing their work.
It has nothing to do with not feeling, or helping honest people in need.
That is ironic that you said empathy dropped like a lead balloon in the last ten years but you didn't give a suspected cause or reason. You'd think that during wars where thousands of people are killed, empathy would be sky high, but in these two wars where our economy became the worst ever in the history of our nation, it seems to be the reverse. Now, I wonder why empathy ended up on the back burner?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's hard to say what the real causes are. I don't think internet and modern technology necessarily makes us less social. Heck, I get to interact with people who I would never otherwise have the chance to - that's a positive!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this- Steven
http://www.theemotionmachine.com
That comment was mostly in response to promytius. I don't think Twitter/Facebook are part of the problem. Those are just tools. It's our culture and attitude that makes the real difference.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this:)
http://www.theemotionmachine.com
I second that! Look all around you - everyone has their heads down...on their phoned - at their desks on the computer... Add the decline of employment or the rise of unemployment - and too many other factors to mention - I think people are having a hard time relating to one another on a personal-upclose-physical level anymore - there's no room for empathy for anyone else but one's self.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this...that's "phones" not "phoned" - typing too fast! ;)
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this...oops! typing too fast! ;) that would be "phones" - not "phoned"!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI wonder because we experience and observe more and more of society because of the media, if more people are detecting then extracting sentimental drivel out of the sphere of empathy and going for genuine indications of deserved empathy?
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt seeems that everyone is so self-consumed. I agree on the obscene use of cell phones. I don't know how more people haven't been killed just crossing the street while talking and texting.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBut, back to the original point, I think that the economy has everyone scared and so their in self defense mode. I think people don"t realize what a joy it is to help someone else. Thinking of others and hoping for the best for them is powerful antedote to apathy.
This is an interesting result, but I think this may be due largely to changes in the way people use the language. For example, the question: "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me" sounds way overstated to me nowadays, though it probably sounded more reasonable 50 years ago. I would have harder time saying "yes" to this today than I would back in H.S., though I think I am more compassionate now than then.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisPart of the reason I think this is contributing is that the dialog in movies has also become much less dramatic in recent years. When I watch most old movies, it is embarrassing how exaggerated some of the statements are compared to the ones produced today. A very nice example of this is in “Play it again, Sam” where Woody Allen repeats Humphrey Bogart’s parting speech to Ingrid Bergman. Allen’s version was much more subdued and made Bogart’s speech seem pretty melodramatic by comparison, though Bogart’s played well at the time.
It certainly is possible that people are becoming less caring, but the evidence needed is actual observed behavior, not subjective reporting.
Just reading the various responses to this article is underscoring the lack of empathy occurring in our society. Cynicism and judgment about whom is worthy of empathy is sadly telling, but being able to put one's self in another shoes is what has been lost.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMore children grow up as only children. They do not learn compassionate behavior or to identify with others in the home. We experience horrific scenes of death and mayhem and torture on television while eating potatoe chips. This can only harden our emotions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisFuthermore if a child has a empathetic urge adults often stifle it. It's dangerous to talk to people who aren't like us. We don't have time, we're already late.
Children either do not have pets or the parents don't teach them,or perphaps don't know the difference themselves, between a toy and a living creature.
The isolation of cell phones, iPods and the rest are all part of it. Real faces on real people in the real world take a distant back seat to a voice.
I passed a young couple with a baby last summer on an early evening stroll. All three of them were on their front porch. Both parents where talking on their cells. The baby was ignored. I suspect the parents considered this quality family time.