Research presented at the conference of the Association for Psychological Science found that today's college students are far less empathic than their counterparts 30 years ago.
在心理科學會的年度會議上,有研究發現當今大學生遠不如30年前的大學生富有同情心。
College Students Are Less Empathic Than Generations Past
The rise of social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and Flikr, has been accompanied by fears that we are producing the most narcissistic 「Generation Me」 in history. But is there any actual scientific evidence for that view?
Well, a study of 14,000 college students found that today’s young people are 40 percent less empathetic than college kids from 30 years ago. The research was presented this weekend at the annual meeting of Association for Psychological Science.
Researchers analyzed data from studies conducted between 1979 and 2009, and found the sharpest drop in empathy occurred in the last nine years.
For instance, today’s students are less likely to agree with statements like, 「I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective" and "I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me."
According to one of the lead researchers, Ed O』Brien, 「It’s harder for today’s college student to empathize with others because so much of their social lives is done through a computer and not through real life interaction.」
O』Brien also notes that students are facing increasing competition so they’re spending much more time working on their grades and resumes, instead of socializing.
「I think our best suggestion now is to force yourself to step outside the computer a little bit each day and try to remember what it’s like to relate to others in the real world.」
大學生的同情心遠不如以前
隨著社交網站Facebook, MySpace 以及Flikr的興起,伴隨而來的擔心就是我們正在製造歷史上最自戀的「唯我獨尊的一代」。但是這種觀點有什麼科學根據嗎?
一項針對一萬四千名大學生的研究發現,當今大學生的同情心比起30年前的大學生要少了很多。在本周末的心理學會年會上,研究人員展示了該項研究結果。
研究人員分析了1979年至2009年間的研究數據,他們發現在過去的9年內,大學生同情心的降低最嚴重。
比如說,當今的大學生更加不容易同意這樣的話,「我有時候會想像從我朋友的角度去看待事情,從而嘗試更好地理解我的朋友」,「對於不如我一樣幸運的人,我經常對他們懷有關愛之心」。
該研究首席作者之一的Ed O』Brien說:「對於當今的大學生而言,要讓他們同情別人難度更大一些,這是因為他們的大部分社交活動是通過網絡而不是通過真實的生活交往完成的。」
O』Brien同時還注意到,當今的大學生面臨日益嚴峻的競爭,因此他們在學習成績和簡歷上花更多的時間,而不是用於社交。
「我想目前我們最好的建議就是,每天強迫你自己離開計算機一小會兒,嘗試回憶在真實的世界中和其他人交往的情景。」
Vocabulary:
Psychological :心理學的
Empathy:同感;同情;共鳴
Counterpart:對應的事物;職位(或作用)相當的人
Accompany: 伴隨
Narcissistic: 自戀的
Annual: 年度的
Occur: 發生
Perspective: 思考方法;觀點;遠景