Brain Snack: Empathy Can Be Learned
New research shows that empathy can be conditioned - with lasting effects
Empathy learnable - really?
Well, everything is learnable to a degree. For example, we know that children who read more fiction develop theory of mind which is also related to empathy and taking others’ perspectives.
But that’s developmental - we know your upbringing will have a large influence but as an adult can we learn empathy?
Well, that is the conclusion of some research just published. We do know by the way that we can develop emotional intelligence but this is related to perception and empathy is about feeling with others. So we may be able to perceive another’s joy but actually feeling some joy with the other person is another question - and that is empathy.
But the conclusion of Yi Zhang and Leor Hackel of the University of Southern California is that this is possible.
How did they do this?
They did it with reward conditioning.
So, Pavlovian conditioning - give a reward for good behaviour?
Basically, yes. But remember conditioning happens to us all the time in everyday life - also in relation to emotions and empathy.
Zhang and Hackel conducted four experiments with 1’500 participants. They watched a cartoon character go through a day with highs and lows. And they reported on their level of empathy with the character.
But the clever bit, the conditioning, was that at different times they were given cash rewards and this was shown on the screen at the same time as a high or low. When this rewards was congruent with positive situations participants became conditioned.
This means they associated positive feelings with another person’s positive situation.
Yes, classic conditioning but did this really give rise to empathy?
Well, this was then further explored and analysed and yes, it did. Those who had the congruent rewards reported more joy with others’ joy but this also lasted when rewards were removed.
Doesn’t this raise the importance of positive behaviour and reinforcement in bringing up children?
Yes, indeed it does. Families that reward the right things will help to develop more empathetic children - who become adults.
But this is also important in many business contexts - something I have seen many times and often question HR and business leaders on: how are the rewards in the business (such as bonuses, financial gain, promotion), aligned with, for example, values of the business, or behaviours they want to see?
You might be surprised at how often there is a mismatch.
No, I won’t be surprised! But my take away is that empathy is partly learnt and hence our environment and how rewards are associated with others’ positive (or negative) experiences will influence how empathetic we are.
Yes indeed, but we probably all have a starting baseline with some people more, or less, empathetic to start with.
I’m already on the empathetic side!
Hopefully! Me too!
But one final bit in this experiment: they also measured motivation and willingness to give gifts to the character at an expense to themselves. Those that had been conditioned worked harder to receive rewards for their character showing that this had translated into motivation and action.
Moreover they were also given an option of giving gifts to the character to increase the character’s joy. This gift giving increased even when they had to pay i.e. lose some of their cash rewards (this was real cash).
So, it was also instrumental empathy, translating into motivation and action.
So real empathy that translates into motivation, action, and paying to increase others joy. Wow!
Indeed, good to know!
Further reading:
Reference
Zhang, Y., & Hackel, L. (2025).
Reward Association With Mental States Shapes Empathy and Prosocial Behavior.
Psychological Science, 0(0).
https://doi.org/10.1177/09567976251351304