Levels of empathy
We have empathy to a larger or lesser extent depending on a variety of factors, including personality traits, our genes and our environment. Research has shown that some, but not much,of our empathy is genetic about 10%. This suggests that there is potentially a large amount of empathy that can be acquired from our everyday interactions.
However, we can lose empathy as we grow older. Research with children aged between five and nine measured their degree of empathy as they viewed scenarios depicting social injustices towards children of different races.
Their brain activity was measured using an EEG (electroencephalogram), which looked for higher levels of "mu suppression" - a brain frequency that is used as an indicator of empathy levels.
The children did not show racial bias in their empathy responses - but previous studies with adults have found that adults do have this bias in their empathy responses. This suggests that people have the potential to develop biases that can reduce empathy.
Empathy helps us understand what others are thinking and feeling. It helps children build relationships, engage with what they are learning about, and work and play together.
Promoting creativity
My research has investigated the effect of teaching empathy on the social and emotional skills of creativity in design and technology classes in the UK.
Pupils in year nine aged 13 to 14 years from two schools were assessed for their creativity 100%
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