Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The End of Empathy
Fox News ^ | 6/1/2010 | Dr Keith Ablow

Posted on 06/01/2010 12:54:20 PM PDT by Flying Circus

A University of Michigan Study of nearly 14,000 college students has found that they have less empathy than college students did during the 1980s or 1990s. In fact, today’s college students scored about 40 percent lower in empathy than their counterparts did 20 or 30 years ago.

Empathy is one of the most valuable psychological resources we have. It allows us to resonate with and respond to the suffering of others. It also allows us to care deeply about the fates of those we love, including our spouses and children. When empathy is destroyed, people are free (in a terrible way) not only to ignore the needs of others, but to perpetrate emotional or physical violence upon them.

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society
KEYWORDS: college; empathy; generationy; psychology; trends
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last
The close of the article sums up what I thought as I read it: "A generation of such people taking leadership positions would be a calamity."
1 posted on 06/01/2010 12:54:20 PM PDT by Flying Circus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

All by design...


2 posted on 06/01/2010 12:55:45 PM PDT by Crim (The Obama Doctrine : A doctrine based on complete ignorance,applied with extreme incompitence..)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

Who cares...


3 posted on 06/01/2010 12:59:26 PM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus
Albert Torena: Where's your empathy, brother? It's a substance abuse problem.
Vincent: Empathy was yesterday. Today, you're wasting my m*****f***ing time.

Couldn't pass that quote up.

4 posted on 06/01/2010 1:01:26 PM PDT by Darren McCarty (I don't look for leaders. I follow my own path, my way.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

Maybe less “empathy” = more common sense. “Empathy” is a code word for social liberalism, e.g. obama’s SC appointments have lots and lots of “empathy” from which to decide future cases.


5 posted on 06/01/2010 1:01:32 PM PDT by San Jacinto
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

Oh yeah? Well I don’t care WHAT those college kids think OR feel.


6 posted on 06/01/2010 1:01:49 PM PDT by WayneS (Respect the 2nd Amendment; Repeal the 16th)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

Their empathy receptors are saturated by long-term overdosing on political correctness.


7 posted on 06/01/2010 1:03:20 PM PDT by Paine in the Neck (Napolean fries the idea powder.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

heh heh... let me take the contrarian view and we’ll see how it goes.

ZERO empathy is definitely a bad thing — but EXCESSIVE empathy is just as bad. Especially when it’s accompanied by a lack of thinking and analysis skills.

Think about it: by definition, “empathy” is what leads one to identify with another individual or group and “feel their pain”.

But excessive raw empathy is too easily manipulated by those skillful at painting a picture of a group (say, illegal aliens?) by picking an anecdotal example and playing on individual’s empathy to encourage them to draw the conclusion that ALL people of the group (i.e. ALL illegal aliens) are pathetic victims.

Isn’t this one of the main problem with liberals? That they emphasize undiscriminated “feelings” at the expense of rational thought?

No, give me a university system that trains minds to THINK and ANALYZE — hopefully without tearing down every shred of empathy.

Just my 2c


8 posted on 06/01/2010 1:04:28 PM PDT by Nervous Tick (Eat more spinach! Make Green Jobs for America!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

I suspect this alleged lack of empathy has more to do with the lame method of measuring it than anything else.


9 posted on 06/01/2010 1:04:31 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum ("The only stable state is the one in which all men are equal before the law." -- Aristotle)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus
I'm afraid I can't empathize with this article. If kids are not prone to giving away welfare at the drop of a hat, all the better.
10 posted on 06/01/2010 1:08:57 PM PDT by DaxtonBrown (HARRY: Money Mob & Influence (Expose on Reid on amazon.com written by me!))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Crim

No doubt there is an ongoing, systematic effort to deaden the consciences of children in the public schools, colleges and entertainment industries. however I doubt they foresaw the multiplier effects of emotional distance in ‘social’ networking and the license Web anonymity gave to saying any evil and horrible thing that comes to mind.


11 posted on 06/01/2010 1:10:26 PM PDT by Flying Circus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

Why should we treat people with any respect?
They’re just an “accident of evolution”, of no more value than monkeys or pigs or rats...

And that whole “think of others before yourself” is such a religious concept, and religion is just a crutch for the weak minded.


12 posted on 06/01/2010 1:12:20 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a (de)humanist and a Satanist is that the latter knows who he's working for.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

Empathy disappears in other contexts too. The military in particular selectively damages empathy in people, because you can’t have empathy for someone you have to shoot. That’s not to say that soldiers are heartless bastards; they’re not, as seen by countless humanitarian gestures they make, but at the same time they have to be able to turn it off like a switch, and the result is that even when they feel it, it’s never quite the same.


13 posted on 06/01/2010 1:15:06 PM PDT by Little Pig (Vi Veri Veniversum Vivus Vici.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

They are a mirror of the empathy their career moms showed at the daycare door.


14 posted on 06/01/2010 1:16:52 PM PDT by donna (The fruits of Feminism: Angry fathers, bitter mothers, fat kids and political correctness.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WayneS

I’m with you brother.


15 posted on 06/01/2010 1:18:07 PM PDT by vpintheak (Love of God, Family and Country has made me an extremist.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

This can be good or bad, depending, as others have said here.

Empathy for loved ones such as grandparents who no longer ‘deserve to get health care’ is a terrible one, and we have heard young people say these things in the past couple years.

On the flip side, our society has been ‘over-empathetic’ and victims of politicians using those feelings to build an overreaching giant bureaucracy in the effort to show we ‘care’ about people for too long. Less empathy in that area would be a good thing.

My guess is it is the first example, and we are f-—ed.


16 posted on 06/01/2010 1:21:13 PM PDT by ilgipper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

The relentless promotion of self-esteem as an educational goal in itself now begins to bear toxic fruit.


17 posted on 06/01/2010 1:21:47 PM PDT by Rockingham
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Nervous Tick

We agree that excessive empathy, unchecked by reason, a bad thing. To many people move by emotions, and think that as long as something ‘feels’ right it is right. It is a quick trip into a moral cesspool.

However I don’t agree that lacking empathy equates to greater thoughtfulness and rationality. Those who lack empathy can feign at “feeling your pain” however they can also be the ones who expect sympathy for their pain out of proportion to what they show others. The emotional imbalance that makes one lack empathy will also make them easy to manipulate for what they perceive as individual gain.


18 posted on 06/01/2010 1:22:29 PM PDT by Flying Circus
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: donna
Harrumph!

19 posted on 06/01/2010 1:23:50 PM PDT by MrB (The difference between a (de)humanist and a Satanist is that the latter knows who he's working for.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Flying Circus

They’ll be perfect liberal marxists... filled with concern for “humanity” in general, and quite indifferent to the means by which they achieve their ends.


20 posted on 06/01/2010 1:23:54 PM PDT by Tijeras_Slim (Live jubtabulously!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-39 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson