Our Feelings Towards People Expressing Empathy Depend On Who They ’re Empathising With

By Emily Reynolds We tend to think of empathy as a wholly positive thing, a trait that’s not only favourable to possess but that we should actively foster. Books and courses promise to reveal secret wells of empathy and ways to channel them; some people even charge for “empathy readings”, a service that seems to sit somewhere between a psychic reading and a therapy session. It would be easy to assume, therefore, that people who express empathy are generally well-liked. But a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology finds that our feelings towards “empathisers” depends on who they are empathising with. While empathisers were considered warmer overall, participants judged people who expressed empathy for those with troubling political views more harshly — suggesting that we don’t always interpret empathy as a pure moral virtue. In the first study, 464 participants were shown a scenario in which Ann (the “target”) and Beth (the “responder”) were meeting for the first time. In one condition, Ann worked for a children’s hospital; in the other, she worked for a white supremacist group. Participants then read a conversation between the pair, with Ann telling Beth about a stressful experience at work planning an event for a large group of people. Those in the “empathic response” condition heard that Beth empathised with Ann, while other participants read that Beth gave a non-committal response....
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Morality Social Source Type: blogs