Lower Class Experiences Compassion More Easily
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University of California, Berkeley researchers have found that individuals from lower socioeconomic classes may be better adept at recognizing signs of distress and are quicker to express compassion than their upper class counterparts. Results from a survey of 148 UC Berkeley students showed that individuals from lower class backgrounds report feeling compassion more often than their middle and upper class peers. Researchers also performed experiments to monitor the heart rates of 64 students as they watched emotionally charged videos about families coping with childhood cancer. They found that while both groups reacted similarly to neutral videos, the lower class group showed a calming response typical of that experienced when the body prepares itself to take care of another person. In a final experiment, 106 students were divided into pairs that competed against each other in stressful mock job interviews. Results showed that lower class interviewees felt their competitors were experiencing more stress and reported a greater deal of compassion and sympathy.
ABSTRACT: Class and compassion: Socioeconomic factors predict responses to suffering. SHARE:
Posted In: Emotions | Social Psychology | Stress & Coping | Tags: Class | Social Class | Compassion | Posted by FindCounseling.com Staff on December 28, 2011 at 09:28 PM | Permalink |
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