A Case for Empathy

In 2010, at the annual meeting for the Association for Psychological Science in Boston, a research group from The University of Michigan Institute for Social Research presented the findings of a meta-study which tracked the empathy levels of approximately 14,000 incoming freshmen per year from 1979 to 2009.  The study found that students overall levels of empathy steadily increased until 2001, when there was a sharp decline, which continued through the rest of the period until, at the end, students from 2009 were about 40% less empathetic than those in 1979.  (Konrath, et al.)

Since the release of these startling findings, the reaction has been mixed, with some decrying this as the result of the evils of the digital era and others saying that it’s just a natural extension of the increased level of independence of the newer generation and isn’t worth worrying about.  While these are the extreme ends of the spectrum, the findings of Konrath and her associates are unsettling and, at the very least, beg for further study as to both the causes and effects of this decreasing empathy.

Buddhist doctrine teaches that empathy leads to compassion, one of the key components of enlightenment, and it isn’t alone.  Religious leaders and philosophers across the globe and throughout history have stressed the necessity of empathy as vital to the survival of both the individual and society.  Even today, empathy has been championed by Carl Rogers, The Stone Center Group and others as being one of the most important traits in both personal growth and the acquisition and development of interpersonal relationships vital to psychological health and research has shown that it is a key element of effective therapy.

When we seek help from a therapist, we are at our most vulnerable, by necessity.  In order to attempt to find solutions to the problems we face, we must drag into the light some of the most personal and uncomfortable parts of ourselves in front of  what amounts, at the outset, to a complete stranger.  This is made easier when the therapist is open, accepting and non-judgmental, shows an ability to listen and truly care about what’s being said, about what we’re going through.  Empathy allows a therapist to show those things, to create an atmosphere of understanding, acceptance and security.    

While empathy is an innate human trait, as with so many others, it will only grow with practice, like the exercise on page 367.  It asks the participant, in this case myself, to go out and seek members of groups, cultures and ethnicities which differ from one’s own and engage in discussions with them while attempting to reflect each other’s thoughts and feelings before sharing one’s own.  This seems deceptively simple, but proves to be somewhat more difficult in practice.

In order to find people with whom I didn’t already share a bond, I started talking with people in my classes, in the halls and, on one occasion, in a local coffee house, choosing those who fit into different ethnicities or subcultures from my own, even one person from a foreign nation.  While the experiment got some odd looks at first, it ended up being a lot of fun and was surprisingly effective.  Of the four conversations I had, each lasting at least twenty minutes and the longest lasting nearly three hours, I felt a great deal closer to the people with whom I had shared that span of time and we both ended up sharing details of our lives which we may not otherwise have shared with someone we’d just met. 

What’s more, the experience definitely opened my eyes and I found myself reflexively reflecting in some of my other conversations, if not nearly as frequently.  I was better able to listen and spent more time doing so than just waiting for my turn to talk.  Overall, the response was overwhelmingly positive and something I would like to continue developing, as its importance and benefits are even clearer to me now than they were before.

Regardless of the cause of the decline in empathy, then, it would seem to be something which could, and certainly should, I feel, after my own experiences, be fought effectively.  While I can offer no causal links between the loss of empathy and the increase in things like bullying, overt bigotry and victim blaming, the concurrence of these things is rife for speculation and hypothesis and certainly warrants study. 

Konrath, S. H., O'Brien, E. H., & Hsing, C. (2011). Changes in dispositional empathy in American college students over time: a meta-analysis. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 15, 180-198.