Learning Empathy through Observation

The study explores the learnability of empathy through observational reinforcement learning. It investigates how adults can acquire empathy by observing others' empathic responses or lack thereof. The key findings highlight the potential for individuals to enhance their empathic capacity by observing empathic behaviors in others and reducing empathic responsiveness when observing less empathic reactions. This underlines the role of observational learning in fostering empathy.