Deborah's Journal

Here's an article from Scientific American about the decline in empathy (not the sfnal variety where one literally experiences the feelings of another, but the ability to perceive and feel compassion for such). It turns out that people are quite accurate in self-describing their own empathy, and the more isolated and lonely a person is, the less skillful s/he is at responding to the plight of others.

An individual’s empathy can be assessed in many ways, but one of the most popular is simply asking people what they think of themselves. The Interpersonal Reactivity Index, a well-known questionnaire, taps empathy by asking whether responders agree to statements such as “I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me” and “I try to look at everybody’s side of a disagreement before I make a decision.” People vary a great deal in how empathic they consider themselves. Moreover, research confirms that the people who say they are empathic actually demonstrate empathy in discernible ways, ranging from mimicking others’ postures to helping people in need (for example, offering to take notes for a sick fellow student).

Here's the clincher:

In a study published earlier this year psychologist Raymond A. Mar of York University in Toronto and others demonstrated that the number of stories preschoolers read predicts their ability to understand the emotions of others. Mar has also shown that adults who read less fiction report themselves to be less empathic.

So, does fiction make the world a kinder, more connected place? I think so!