Some people are more naturally attuned to the emotions of those around them — they’re sometimes regarded as “empaths”. That’s the conventional wisdom but, as is so often the case, conventional wisdom is wrong. According to a new study from Würzburg researchers, empathy isn’t an innate trait. Adults can also learn and practice empathy.

Contagious empathy

Children can be remarkably self-centered and inconsiderate of others. But they learn from their caregivers and develop a level of empathy. Würzburg neuroscientist Prof. Dr. Grit Hein wondered whether adult humans don’t also do the same thing. In the new study, she not only showed that adults can also develop empathy, but formalized how this empathy is transmitted.

The setup of the research was fairly straightforward. Researchers chose female participants of different ages and ethnic backgrounds. The participants first watched videos of hands receiving a painful stimulus. They were then asked to rate their own feelings during the experience.

In the second stage of the study, the same participants watched responses of other people to the same videos. These responses were either empathetic or non-empathetic. Then, the participants were again shown videos of hands receiving a painful stimulus and asked to rate their feelings again.

Basically, the researchers tracked how a person’s empathy changed in the presence of empathetic and non-empathetic peers. If empathy can’t be learned or socialised, you’d expect the responses to be unchanged. But they weren’t. Participants of different ages and ethnicities showed a comparable response.

“Depending on whether empathic or non-empathic reactions were observed, empathy ratings increased or decreased. Interestingly, the neuronal response to the pain of another person also changed,” says Hein.

Changes in the brain

The researchers also tracked some regions of the participants’ brains in an fMRI scanner. They found that the changes in empathy were reflected by changes in a brain region called the anterior insula, thought to be connected to empathy processing. This shows that it wasn’t just people trying to please the researchers, their brains were actually changing.

Does this mean that we can learn or unlearn empathy, then?

“Absolutely,” responds Grit Hein. “It is essential to understand that adults can learn or unlearn empathy through observation, even from individuals they do not know.”

In fact, the researcher stresses that this should be an important consideration for those looking to set up a healthy workplace, especially one where employees interact with clients or patients. Oftentimes, empathy can be cast aside as an afterthought, but this research suggests that approach can have negative effects.

Much more to learn

It’s important to keep in mind that the study only looked at a brief moment in time. Does this newly gained empathy last, or does it wane over time?

“The good news from our studies is that we have the means to shape empathetic ability in adults through appropriate measures in both directions,” the researcher notes. “It is possible to learn positive empathy from others. However, for empathy to thrive long-term, it requires an atmosphere of mutual respect. One can respect someone without having empathy for that person, but it is challenging to develop empathy if the other person is not respected as a human or if disrespect is accepted in society.”

Of course, social interactions are complex. They can’t be simplified and easily understood or explained as they’re also affected by numerous environmental and cultural factors. But you have to start somewhere, and researchers like Hein start with the basic mechanisms. Once we have these mechanisms, we can use them as puzzle pieces to get the bigger picture and start incorporating more complex factors.

For the future, subsequent studies on empathy that include mixed genders will be carried out. At the moment, Hein is also examining whether the same findings can also be applied to other social behaviors such as selfishness or aggression.

Journal Reference: Yuqing Zhou, Shihui Han, Pyungwon Kang, Philippe N. Tobler, Grit Hein. The social transmission of empathy relies on observational reinforcement learning. PNAS Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America – Psychological and cognitive sciences. February 2024. www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2313073121