[BryterLayter]

Today's College Students Lack Empathy | LiveScience
this paragraph says we lack empathy, i really don't like my generation and this is just another reason why.

 

[Miss Scarlet]

Humm I don't hang around people like that so I wouldn't know. Normally I am the one that tells people to suck it up but, my friends aren't like that.

 

[VonnieHope]

Oh my, I don't think every one is like that it depends on the person. I don't think your generation is just like that every generation has good and bad and all mixed in between, its been like that since humans were put here. I am sorry if I hurt your feelings by what I said.

 

[Drewbie]

I lack empathy, I know that. I am not the shoulder to come cry on because you'll probably need a safe word to deal with the tough love I dish out. I make up for it though with a passion for social justice. Not being able to cry with someone or 'relate' to them does not mean I'm not going to do something to make their situation better. I wouldn't say that's most people that I associate with though, I know a lot more compassionate people than I do hard asses like me. :laughing:

 

[Dynamic Chaos]

Ahahaha...I scored 32 which was too low to mention on the 'lowest results' table.
One empathy quotient quiz, stated I might be autistic, but I understand people's motives too much for that.
I am not psychopathic, I have strong emotions but they weaken me so I don't chose to use them.
However, I feel like this low level of compassion ostracizes me [internally] rather than feeling like I am a part of the majority. Then again I am an INTJ female....

What is so wrong with having a lack of empathy? I find it rather freeing.
To me, this article is just another ageist stab against teenagers, and a stereotype based on unreliable evidence.

 

[kryten5786]

its funny how that test has been used since what??... the 1940's? 30's? and it fails to account for changes in society, it just another failed attempt by older generations to brand the younger one's. the "boomers" are their parents now and guess what.. we'll be doing the same thing when we're old too. read old newspaper articles from the 1920's and 30's the same things said about todays youth were said about the WW2 generation, it almost scary because a lot of it is word for word what was said about them. looks like we've learned nothing from history so we're well on our way to repeating it... i just hope we can rise to the challenge.

 

[Gildar]

If i see someone crying it brings pain to me and i want to help them with their problem. I find fulfillment helping my friends succeed more then myself. I have plenty of empathy

 

[kmamaji]

Hope this could not lead your point of thinking to that level where you think without you someone can't achieve to that level where he/she exist today.

 

[Vaka]

I don't see how it's possible to totally lack empathy. I think society/the environment may shape how you use it, though.
I don't see how it's bad to be individualistic, confident, driven, and competitive, though. Selfcentered-ness seems more efficient than selflessness to be honest. But I've never gotten narcissism...

 

[vellocent]

This is very upsetting. Are people from our generation more honest with their answers than me? :sad:

 

[Achi]

I scored 53. I wouldn't consider myself a very epathetic person though.
I'm not going to say what I think about the subject on this site, but I do think the level of empathy in today's generation is lower than previous ones.

 

[EctoplasmicGoo]

Bullshit, sounds like a big stereotype.. oh wait.

 

[hylogenesis]

That's interesting. While I don't have the details, I do have a friend who told me she did a study that suggested exactly the opposite. I'm unconvinced either way.

 

[Persephone]

I did that survey and scored 46, which is apparently below even our despicable generation's average score. For the record, I answered mostly on the "somewhat like me" scale for the empathetic items. I guess you'll have to answer something like: I absolutely have tender feelings every time I see someone less fortunate than myself. Well, I hate the phrasing of their question. "tender feelings".

It sounds like the most NF survey ever. Some of the items had mushy wording that turned me off so much that even know I KNEW what they meant, I can't bring myself to answer as they would want me to. Are we less empathetic than our elders? Maybe. But this stupid test does nothing to help situations. Something about these emotional words like "upset" and "tender" and "feel very sorry" and "greatly disturb" (for the record, other people's misfortunes may disturb me, but not THAT much that I can't function)

 

[Persephone]

Ahahaha...I scored 32 which was too low to mention on the 'lowest results' table.
One empathy quotient quiz, stated I might be autistic, but I understand people's motives too much for that.
I am not psychopathic, I have strong emotions but they weaken me so I don't chose to use them.
However, I feel like this low level of compassion ostracizes me [internally] rather than feeling like I am a part of the majority. Then again I am an INTJ female....

What is so wrong with having a lack of empathy? I find it rather freeing.
To me, this article is just another ageist stab against teenagers, and a stereotype based on unreliable evidence.

I'm an INTJ female also. Though I believe in making the world a better place I don't believe in screwing up my face and looking all concerned and motherly at someone who's having trouble. /shudder/

A fortune teller once told my mother: your daughter has a stinging and unforgiving tongue, but a heart of gold. My mother was surprised at how accurate the description was. I might be empathetic, but I don't wear it on my sleeve like a Mother Theresa, which is why the test was especially bad for me.

 

[SeektheTruth]

I am not that pessimistic about our generation and its apathy. While I see where it comes from (we are more 'I' minded on first sight) I think it has a practical reason. What? I have no idea, but I have the feeling it will all work out when our generation grows up and takes its place behind the wheel.

We also need to be more indifferent towards emotions, internet gives us some harsh challenges. On every youtube comment or forum post you could walk into someone who wishes you to be dead or otherwise wants to you to have a crappy, unfavorable time. If we would be affected by those kind of comments like the previous generations, we sould all be crying in uncertainty.

Because of this, I think we keep a bit more distance between ourselves and others.

 

[starshipuk]

I lack affective empathy (the ability to feel what another is feeling), but I have plenty of cognitive empathy (the ability to know what's going on in another's mind). Other people's emotions don't affect mine, but I usually am aware of how they probably feel and can talk it through with them, or listen to them if that's what they want. Frankly, though I know some people want other people to cry with them, I cannot grasp how that would help anything, and I can't do it. I like the way I am because I can advise my friends or listen to them vent, if needed, while keeping a level head myself.

I can't say I agree with the study, though. The people around my age who I associate with are very empathetic, in general.

 

[SeektheTruth]

I cannot grasp how that would help anything, and I can't do it. I like the way I am because I can advise my friends or listen to them vent, if needed, while keeping a level head myself.

But not everyone only wants advice. I don't think people want others to cry with them to make them feel miserable but to know someone else (could) also feel the same way in the same situation.
Sometimes someone just wants advice and be done with the situation, sometimes there is the need to just get it out of their heads but knowing your feelings aren't weird or not in line with what others feel is also comforting.

You made the distinction between emotions and cognitionally picking them up, maybe that is what our generation understands and others perceive as apathy while it is really just a different approach.

 

[starshipuk]

But not everyone only wants advice. I don't think people want others to cry with them to make them feel miserable but to know someone else (could) also feel the same way in the same situation.
Sometimes someone just wants advice and be done with the situation, sometimes there is the need to just get it out of their heads but knowing your feelings aren't weird or not in line with what others feel is also comforting.

You made the distinction between emotions and cognitionally picking them up, maybe that is what our generation understands and others perceive as apathy while it is really just a different approach.

No, I know not everyone just wants advice that's why included that sometimes I can just listen to them if they need to be listened to. Sorry if I didn't clearly express that. I see what you mean though about a different approach being perceived as apathy.

 

[OrangeAppled]

I hate being lumped in with people in their late teens/early 20s. My friends are all in their late 20s/early 30s & I'd say that empathy is not an issue...