A recent study showed that people tend to sympathize more with groups instead of individuals, which is evident through the results of the box office and social positions.
The sympathy, which is known as the person’s ability to understand and share the feelings of others, may feel some individuals as “painful”, especially when he is compared to neutral survival, according to the researchers.
The study led by Sweden scientists and published in the magazine “Fronters in Psychology” included 296 participants. A test was conducted that included the display of two sets of images: the first contains individuals, and the second includes groups of people. The participants were also offered two cards: one asking them to sympathize, and the other requires them to stay neutral.
When viewing a picture, the participants were asked to write 3 major words to describe the feelings of people in the picture or their appearance. They also asked them to evaluate the effort made in sympathy or whether the process is stressful.
The results showed that the participants chose to stay objective when they were dealing with individuals, but they were more willing to sympathize with the groups.
The sympathy has been classified in both cases as a greater effort and individuals feel painful.
Dr. Hungidi Moshe of the University of Linchoping in Sweden said that people’s desire to sympathize vary according to who is the other party: one person or a group. People are often more likely to sympathize with a group, although this kind of sympathy requires more effort and may be more tired than just staying on neutrality.
The results of the study showed that only 34% of the participants chose to sympathize with individuals, while 53% chose to sympathize with groups, even with their admission that sympathy in itself was difficult and sometimes annoying.
Dr. Moshe explained that sympathy means making an effort to imagine the feelings of others and try to understand what they feel, and not just noting their external appearance. She also added that this may be more difficult when available information is limited, such as neutral facial expressions, without a body language or a clear context.
The doctor concluded her speech with a proposal to address the upcoming studies directly between pictures of individuals and pictures of groups to see if people tend more to sympathize with one of them without the other. She said: “In this way, we can get a clearer understanding about people’s preferences in sympathy, and whether they sympathize more with people or with groups.
