Today's College Students Lack Empathy

[The Straight Story]

Today's College Students Lack Empathy

College students today are less likely to "get" the emotions of others than their counterparts 20 and 30 years ago, a new review study suggests.

Specifically, today's students scored 40 percent lower on a measure of empathy than their elders did.

...
The study was presented this week at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science in Boston.

Is "generation me" all about me?

Compared with college students of the late 1970s, current students are less likely to agree with statements such as "I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective," and "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me."

"Many people see the current group of college students - sometimes called 'Generation Me' - as one of the most self-centered, narcissistic, competitive, confident and individualistic in recent history," said Konrath, who is also affiliated with the University of Rochester Department of Psychiatry.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20100528/sc_livescience/todayscollegestudentslackempathy

[eleny]

1. Oh, who cares

Just kidding!

Things ought to get interesting when they try to enter the work force and not many doors fling open to them.

[hlthe2b]

3. Exactly... given the economy and state of society they are entering

They are going to have a sad awakening.

[eleny]

9. Yes, the businesses just aren't there right now

I was really kidding since the topic is empathy. But they will surely learn some serious lessons right now as they move in the work force. We need them employed. Hopefully, soon there will be a "there" there.

[peace13]

4. Unfortunately empathy or no those doors are not opening now.

The future doesn't' look much rosier! My son is 25 and it is another world out there. He moved 800 miles away for a job that makes less money just to have an employer that hopefully will not take advantage of him. Makes $30 K a year. College GPA 3.7. His friend relocated to Florida only to find out that the Chinese quit paying on the contract so he has a 12 month lease and no job. Another friend works for $500 a month plus commissions and in June she goes to commission only. Really, these young people are screwed. All three of these people are college graduates. My son has school loans that he is still paying. Go figure.

[eleny]

8. I remember when I moved out here from NYC when employment got hairy

I took a huge cut in pay, that was 1976. Then years later my husband went back to college. He worked full time and went to school full time. Got his electronics AAS degree and took a big cut in pay to get into the computer hardware field.

It all worked out. But over the years, on our road to retirement, we took a number of hits. Each time I freaked out not realizing that there are peaks and valleys over and over. So recently as we made some improvements to our home out of necessity I didn't worry as much. This economic downturn is worse than ever but things will take a turn upward. Without the middle class to buy the damned products, the bigwigs don't have a prayer of maintaining their own wealth.

The big difference between kids now and us kids back in the day is those horrible college loans. Something must be done to lift that excruciating burden.

[jaksavage]

11. They are the leaders

look at wallstreet. mortgage/financial markets. political hacking
they are already there.

[peace13]

2. These are our Patriot Act kids.

These young people never knew America when Americans were 'free' or thought they were, and had the promise of a future. No future, no jobs hey I don't know how empathetic I would have been in that situation!

[howard112211]

5. I don't buy it. Conditions are tougher today than ever.

Everything has to more efficient, inter disciplinary, international and versatile, while at the same time producing precise and marketable results. You get piled with so much work, that even the small number of geniuses that every class has cannot get ahead without cheating. And at the same time, a college degree does not guarantee a job. We are told to finish grad school in three years, including a stay abroad, while our professors all took five years or more for grad school.

I think if anything, the apparent selfishness of college student is a response to conditions that were never as shitty as they are now. Compare the number of people hospitalized for burn-out to the same number 30 years ago. I bet they are worlds apart.

[zazen]

6. it's possible the change is in self-reporting and self-perception, not phenomena

I think the late 70s zeitgeist including the mainstreaming of certain liberal values, so people would describe themselves as being compassionate without necessarily digging down into what that means (eg, giving lots of unsolicited advice is no longer considered compassionate today, but to unreflective people then and now, it would be). Today, children are raised in a mainstream culture saturated with therapeutic discourse. I'd venture that a good 15% of respondents actually thought harder about those questions today than someone would have in the late 1970s, applied a tougher standard to themselves, and felt they didn't meet it.

Are there comparative studies that actually measure empathic action and attitudes apart from the narrative someone tells one's self about it?

I'm not disputing that video game obsessions, Disney-encouraged teenage clutter/status accumulation, and the isolation of networking technologies might be limiting people's ability to connect with other humans in real time, but I don't assume that based on this type of study.

[Misanth]

32. *Thank You*

Until there is research on actual behavior, this is a study done on personal narrative only.


That the generation which spawned the likes of Oprah, Dr. Phil, and let's face it, Obama, thinks of itself as inordinately attuned to others' feelings isn't a huge surprise for me. And the complete lack of progress in any issue regarding humanism and social responsibility during the reign of these college graduates from the 70's should probably make us wonder if what this study is measuring is actual "empathy."

[Odin2005]

40. Exactly! A lot of people give such polls reflexively "socially acceptable" answers.

For the most part it is because those people are very un-introspective, very unaware of their own feelings. Oddly enough, this is the dark side of Empathy that comes out when it is not backed by an inner foundation, the superficial mirroring of other people.

[AnneD]

7. These are the kids that have grown up.....

in the computer age. They have been connected to every thing but other human beings. They have been entertained instead of imagining. And we expect them to turn out any other way?

I had strict limitations on my daughter's computer time. She was active in the Girl Scouts and had plenty of 'boring' playtime. She has grown into a wonderful empathetic/sympathetic human. Sadly I worry about how she will navigate in this unfriendly world.

[flamingdem]

10. The computer offers simple clear Yes and No, and this crimps the mind nt

[SocialistLez]

15. I spend plenty of time on the computer

and I'm VERY empathetic.

I've always been a pretty sensitive person and ever since I was little I cared for the "underdog." I have a huge soft spot for animals too.

[flamingdem]

17. Did you grow up texting and on internet 24/7 ? nt

[SocialistLez]

23. I'm 19 and text quite a bit, not as much as my friends but...eh

I don't have a lot of friends I hang out with so I spend a lot of time on the computer, watching videos, and reading books.

I constantly have people tell me they don't see a lot of young people like me: concerned about others.

Maybe some people my age are all "me me me me" but it isn't fair to broad brush all of us.
Good fucking grief.

[flamingdem]

28. Thanks for being the exception to the apparent rule! nt

[AnneD]

37. And what....

is your age and when did you first get on the computer.

Empathy does not come naturally to many children and has to be taught and encouraged (I have worked around kids for 20 something years). Yes there are some that have empathy and you may have been one of those that has it naturally. Children need to learn to deal with others face to face and need to feed their imagination before they get on the computer. There is a reason why middle children grow up to be the diplomats.

Communicating by e-mail and boards has made folks less civil and more intolerant. Small wonder that kids are less empathetic. I guess time and life's experiences will have to do their work.

[SocialistLez]

38. 19. I was on the computer around 8 or 9...

I was an only child til the age of 13 and even now it seems like most days I am one consider my half sister lives about 2 hours away and I barely see her.

I agree communicating by email and boards has made people less civil and more intolerant.

[AnneD]

46. Thanks......

That helps me put your answers in a better perspective. Being young and on a Dem website tells me much.

My daughter is active in fund raising for Nothing but Nets and has always given freely. Once when we had a free weekend-she chose to go to Camp Casey to protest Bush. I was taken a bit by surprise at her choice. We went up there and had a wonderful time. That is when she made the connection between politics and it's effect on peoples lives. She was barely 14 at the time.

She was on the computer in school at 1st grade. I let her have access for school work but not for play until she was 13-14. I wanted her to play with her friends and learn to use her imagination.

[newtothegame]

12. Today's college students lack a lot...

like real-world knowledge, real-world skills, work experience, etc.

Instead of colleges spending money on classroom-to-work programs, here are some great ways colleges spend money today:

-Paying millions for the purchase and installation of artwork that I could make in my garage for free if asked to

-Encouraging students in their completely obscure and useless degrees. For instance, "Religion and Ethnic Identity amongst Homosexual Bobbin Boys in the Late Baroque Period." (and yes, this was very similar to an actual thesis of a classmate of mine in grad school)

-Retaining professors through tenure that:
1) Are in academia because they were too scared of the real world
2) Gave up on caring about teaching years ago because they don't need to care. I'm on the board for a grad program here in town, and we have professors that refuse to use email with their students or with other professors and will NEVER have to use it, and there is not a damn thing anyone can do about it, even if we have a 100 enthusiastic and willing professors ready to take their place.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. Previous generations lacked cynicism/skepticism.

[Jennicut]

35. Well, Gen X was plenty cynical.

Or told we were....

[SocialistLez]

14. Not this college kid.

I get so sick of these generalizations.

I guess I am a rare breed. I can't tell you how many older people tell me they wish more young people were like me.

[MicaelS]

16. Not a bit surprising......

When you listen to rhetoric of many people these days. Lack of empathy and selfishness are directly related. It's all about me, me, me, my, my, my, mine, mine, mine:

"No one ever gave me anything."

"I don't owe anyone anything."

"You're on your own" (YOYO)

Much of Libertarian / Republican / Conservative / Tea Party / Teabagger political rhetoric essentially boils down to:

"As long as I've got mine, screw everyone else."

[Gidney N Cloyd]

18. And yet current college agers are more into volunteerism than past generations.

[Lorien]

20. Do you have a link for that?

[Gidney N Cloyd]

24. No, but I've been in higher ed a long time and 'service learning' has become a big deal.

I'm a late boomer myself and this is something I've come to admire about Gen Y

[SocialistLez]

25. Aren't they also into public service jobs? They want to make a difference?

http://www.citytowninfo.com/career-and-education-news/articles/more-college-students-pursuing-careers-in-public-service-09051202


"Nevertheless, university officials say that the shift to public service can even be seen in business schools. "The big long-term trend is that huge numbers of students want to change the world," said Dan Poston, assistant dean for master's programs at UW's Foster School of Business. "They are interested in ethics, corporate responsibility and helping the developing world."

He noted that more than one-third of business administration graduate applications now mention these altruistic goals, while just a few years ago such ambitions were seldom brought up."

http://www.nationalservice.gov/about/newsroom/releases_detail.asp?tbl_pr_id=489


But you know....today's college kids are all "me me me me"

:eyes: :eyes:

[Romulox]

30. That's a mere artifact of the college admissions process.

Kids do half-assed "volunteering" to impress college admissions boards. It's ginned up.

[Lorien]

19. 30 years of Selfservatism (Republicanism) will do that to a society

One of my neighbors was recently amazed that I saved a young blue jay that had been mauled by a predator and took it to a wildlife rehab facility. She said "when I see a bird like that I just walk by. It never would occur to me to help it." I wish I could say that I was really surprised by her statement. Back when I worked for Disney in house I would often take a walk in one of the theme parks during my lunch break. At least once a week I'd find a howling toddler who has become separated from his or her parents, and I'd take them to the front gate so an announcement could be made and their parents could find them. So often it would be obvious that the child had been standing there and crying hysterically for a good long time, but park visitors would just scowl at them and walk on by. It never even occurred to them to help. That does seem to be a phenomenon that's only grown over the past 30 years. If the trend keeps up America will soon resemble something from "lord of the flies".

[FLPanhandle]

21. I don't know. People have been complaining about the "kids now-a-days" since the biblical era

I know my parents generation thought we were all spoiled and self-centered.

I'm taking this study with a huge grain of salt.

[SocialistLez]

27. +1 NT

[backscatter712]

54. Indeed! n/t

[flamingdem]

22. Add Pop Psychology "Self Esteem" techniques pushed at all costs for children

whether or not it adds to their self delusions.

Self esteem is something gained through pain and learning. Pain is something killed in our society with meds and media.

[krabigirl]

26. I'd say a majority of the public, period, lacks empathy.

[flamingdem]

29. Yes to that, especially Republicans! nt

[arbusto_baboso]

31. Well, a generation that relies on Facebook and texting rather than actual human contact...

What does one expect?

[RagAss]

33. 40% lower than us?,,,...Those aren't people....That's a fucking pack of Wolves.

[nemo137]

43. Your empathy for my generation is heartening.

Truly, I can see what we're missing in comparison.

[Jennicut]

34. Oh, the Millenials are young. Give them a chance. I am Gen Xer.

We grew up a bit differently in that we were left alone a lot more and did not have hovering parents. We were less protected. But these kids seem to be more liberal then the Xers or the Boomers. That is a positive.

[starroute]

36. Maybe they just found the questions too embarrassing to answer straight

I mean, if someone asked me whether I'd agree with any any statement beginning, "I often have tender, concerned feelings," my first impulse would be to tell them no.

Angry, outraged feelings about people getting dicked around? Sure. But tender and concerned? Not so much.

I suspect the kids might also be rebelling against the generation immediately before them. As the 70's punks rejected the hippies, the current generation would certainly be justified in rejecting the self-flattering hyper-emotionality of the last 10 or 15 years and seeing it as a form of hypocrisy.

We are, after all, at a moment when President Obama can get panned for showing too much cool in yesterday's press conference and not enough Clinton-style "I feel your pain." But I think his kind of cool, with flashes of outrage, is far more in the current mode.

Kids today also have relatively little need to imagine how things look from their friends' perspectives because they're constantly telling each other on Facebook or Twitter exactly what they're doing and thinking at all times. It's the water they swim in -- they don't need to chase after it.

It could be true that current youngsters really are more self-centered and narcissistic -- but "many people see" doesn't cut it, and neither does a personality test based on the attitudes of 30 or more years ago.

The test that was apparently used can be found online -- for example, at http://www.prenhall.com/divisions/hss/app/social/Emp_Con_Scale.html -- and it's sourced to a publication in 1980. The test's author, Mark H. Davis, apparently graduated from college in 1975, meaning his own basepoint would have been one of 1970's "sensitivity."

So altogether, I'd take this with more than a grain of salt.

[Odin2005]

39. I call BS on this!

At least for around here. My peers seem to be a lot more touchy-feely than Gen-Xers or Boomers.

[malletgirl02]

41. I agree

Some of the responses on this thread really pisses me off. a lot of posters seem to enjoy believing the worst about generation Y. I read a column a few weeks ago by a writer was glad that we were in a recession because it hurts generation Y. that doesn't sound very emphatic to me. you know in practice I don't think boomers or Xers are actually very emphatic. For example welfare reform and welfare queens. that was way before generation Y could vote.

[Radical Activist]

50. Seniors get more social security and health care coverage while Gen Y gets student loans

the size of a mortgage. That says it all about generational empathy. Young, low-wage workers are being taxed for a generational redistribution of wealth.

And who cares if we do anything about global warming? The politicians and news pundits telling us how unimportant it is won't be around when shit hits the fan.

[Odin2005]

51. Yep, it's rich hearing Boomers with an entitlement complex whining about us kids.

It's all about them and it's been all about them since the late 60s.

[marmar]

42. Corporations have molded them to be anti-social and "me" oriented for decades.....

So there should be no surprise there.

[Lilyeye]

44. I am a college student and the results sound about right.

Sometimes I am amazing at how cold and selfish some people my age can be. However, I don't think its just college students, its people in general who lack empathy these days. Whenever I talk to people about the AZ law and the oil spill (whether or not they vote for democrats or republicans) most of them have this attitude of "who cares, its not hurting me." And most of these people are in their late 20's and up!

So I have to laugh when older people act like this generation became that way overnight. I hear it all the time when they say "it's all because of those violent video games, the internet, thug rap music, left wing liberal education, government programs for the lazy, socialism, political correctness....it wasn't like that when I was coming up in the 80's, 70's, 60's (or whenever time they grew up)."


I love how some of them in the comment section tried to turned this into a liberal problem or an "inner city" problem. Some even went as far as to blame President Obama. According to the article, this has been growing over the years and the drop in empathy became bigger after the year 2000. So if you wanted to blame one person for this (which I don't because a lot of things are to blame), wouldn't it be Bush? Instead of the guy who hasn't even been in office a good full 2 years yet? Some republicans really act like they're allergic to logic and reason sometimes.

Any conservative blaming liberals for this is a joke, considering many of their core values and beliefs go against empathizing and sympathizing with others. Like someone else stated, they have this "I got mine, so fuck everybody else" mentality. The health care debate was a prime example of it. Overall, I really don't see this as a conservative vs. liberal thing. I've seen people on both sides and from all walks of life display a lack of empathy and sympathy for others.

[Radical Activist]

49. The exact same things are said about every generation.

And when the generation of corrupt youth grow older, they forget the accusations made against them and point their fingers at how bad the youth of today are.

[intheflow]

45. The inevitable outcome of growing up under Republican and DLC leadership.

:thumbsdown:

[Johonny]

47. perhaps they aren't as well off as college goers from the 1970s

Heck college was more affordable back then and a college kid back then was likely a middle class or upper middle class child getting a degree that would insure them a well paying middle class job. Since our tax laws the last 3 years have destroyed the middle class. A college kid today isn't even insured he can pay the debt off he made getting his degree, yet alone a job that pays him enough to be considered middle class. Perhaps the kids are realistic. Many are not well off themselves. To me what has change from the 1970s is status of those going to college, not the quality of their ethics.

[Radical Activist]

48. Or, they aren't as condescending and paternalistic about their feelings toward others.

The questions on that survey are ridiculous. I think there's a generational bias by the people who wrote it. Frankly, I would hope that a truly compassionate person would NOT have the patronizing attitudes about others that are expressed in those questions. The survey result may reflect generational improvement in our view of what it means to be an empathetic person.

[Odin2005]

52. Pretty much. The questions are loaded with buzzwords popular in the 70s.

It betrays the attitudes of the Silent Generation folks (people in between the Greatest generation and the Boomers) in mid-life more than anything.

[Johonny]

55. I agree

You have to first believe the researchers created a survey that can "measure" empathy on some sort of unbiased scale that can be compared multi-generationally. That seems like a stretch to me. Clearly the way students answer these questions have changed but is there no doubt the status of college students has dramatically changed since the 1970s. Compare conditions in the 1970s where many states had well founded affordable state schools with today's student loan debt financed colleges. Also the section of the population that was going into college in the 1970s was vastly different as compared to today because in the 1970s many trade jobs payed good wages and people were not forced to be a college graduate to be part of the middle class. Today college is a must have and yet still a gateway to many poor paying jobs. Finally in the 1970s college was thought of as part of upper class mobility and students thought they were very likely to be better off than their parents, upper class mobility is not widely believed by today's generation who grew up seeing their parents get further and further behind. The people answering the survey basically do not come from the same socio-economic class and colleges aren't the same sort of institution as they were in the 1970s. So shrug as to the difference.

[carlyhippy]

53. hmm, in the adult world...individualism, competitiveness, confidence....exactly what is wrong ?????

Don't we want our kids to go out in the world and BE confident, competitive and be their own person??????

Narcissim and self-centeredness, yeah, the young people could probably benefit from not having these traits. I know PLENTY of adults, out of college for many years, who are all this, some of these folks have been out of college 20-30 years....

My kids college has alot of volunteerism going on...alot...

[SOS]

56. 2008 results

Age 18-24: Obama 68%, McCain 30%
Age 25-29: Obama 69% McCain 29%

Over 65: Obama 44%, McCain 54%

Young people are great.

[vanlassie]

57. Empathy develops in the first three years of life. Or doesn't.

Depending upon whether or not needs were met appropriately. This lack of empathy is a logical epidemic. No flames please.