

Then, everyone heard the same interview, which was from a (not real) “very brave, bright 10-year-old” named Sheri Summers.

The Myth of the Ever-More-Fragile College Student Try to feel the full impact of what this child has been through and how he or she feels as a result.” Related Stories In the high-empathy condition, subjects were told, “Try to imagine how the child who is interviewed feels about what has happened and how it has affected this child’s life. Try not to get caught up in how the child who is interviewed feels just remain objective and detached.” That was the so-called low-empathy condition. Half were told, “While you are listening to this interview, try to take an objective perspective toward what is described. The subjects were prepared for the interview in one of two ways. Daniel Batson told a group of study participants about a charity called the Quality Life Foundation, which worked to improve the quality of life of terminally ill kids, and explained that they, the subjects, were going to hear an interview with an applicant. A team led by the University of Kansas psychologist C. In 1995, the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology published a revealing study, which centered on a story about a dying child.
