Yes, Empathy Can Be Trained Like Any Other Muscle

Key points

Research shows that empathy training programs can increase empathy.

Empathy training programs that include practice and feedback tend to be most effective.

Experiences such as travel, learning sign language, and pet ownership may also train empathy.

There are no empathy "quick fixes." Improvements require effort and practice.

Many people treat empathy the way they treat height or eye color; in other words, as something baked in from birth. We hear this in everyday phrases like “she’s such a good kid” or “he’s just not very sensitive,” as if empathy were an inborn trait rather than something shaped over time. In our survey, more than a third of respondents were skeptical that empathy could be improved . Yet decades of research across psychology, education , and neurosci