by Jen Hull

In 2006, President Obama spoke of the biggest deficit in our society. He wasn’t speaking about our large federal deficit, but rather, a deficit of empathy. A recent meta-analytic study of college students shows that he wasn’t wrong—self-reported empathy has made a substantial decline in the past 30 years.

Empathy is central to adaptive social functioning and is predictive of conflict resolution and less prejudiced intergroup attitudes, among other things. We also know that in challenging interpersonal circumstances, rousing empathy can be a daunting task.

Recent research (Schumann, Zaki, Dweck, 2014) suggests that at least one of the predicting factors of the amount of effort one will exert in the face of such challenges is one’s own belief about empathy. In other words, whether a person believes that their ability to empathize is innate and therefore fixed or malleable and therefore can be developed.

These studies indicate that having a belief in the malleable nature of empathy promotes: 1) more self-reported efforts to feel empathy when it is challenging; 2) more effort to empathize with people with socio-politically conflicting views; and 3) more time spent listening to members of out-groups.

These findings suggest that empathy can be induced in subjects even in the face of challenging circumstances. For practitioners, this can translate into a focus on teaching others that empathy is not something you either have or do not have—it is a dynamic condition, and with effort, anyone can develop it.

 
Schumann, K., Zaki, J., & Dweck, C. S. (2014). Addressing the empathy deficit: Beliefs about the malleability of empathy predict effortful responses when empathy is challenging. Journal of personality and social psychology, 107(3), 475.