According to a study that was presented last week at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science, college students of today are not as empathetic as their peers of 1980s and '90. I am afraid that this research is not online so I cannot provide a link.
A few quotes from the press.
"College kids today are about 40% lower in empathy than their counterparts of 20 or 30 years ago, as measured by standard tests of this personality trait."
Why the decline?
"The increase in exposure to media during this time period could be one factor, compared to 30 years ago, the average American now is exposed to three times as much nonwork-related information. In terms of media content, this generation of college students grew up with video games and it increasingly seems that the exposure to violent media numbs people to the pain of others."
"The recent rise of social media may also play a role in the drop in empathy”
I am not sure I buy either of these explanations but the next time some idiot comes out with the nonsense about boomers only caring for themselves and being self-centred you can point them at this research. Dick Stroud
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