The Role of Empathy in American Society: A Multidimensional Systematic Review of Empathic Education and Implementation

Empathy facilitates connections between individuals and fluctuates throughout life, affecting emotions, views, and interactions. Research suggests that behaviorism offers the most logical explanation for the current state of empathy in the United States. While the consequences of interactions with one’s environment have shaped covert and overt empathy behaviors in individuals and groups of individuals across civilizations, this paper combines research from three sectors to illustrate how interactions in the school, art museum, and healthcare environments reverberate significantly throughout American society. Although behaviorism is a major contributing theory throughout this paper, and it is especially relevant in schools, other theories are employed to show various constructs of empathy. Americans tip the scale heavily in favor of individualism over collectivism. The American Dream focuses on individual achievement and welfare, which directly challenges the concept of empathy. This paper delineates the history of empathy in the United States within the three sectors and illustrates how a thoughtfully manipulated school, museum, and healthcare environment can play a vital role in increasing empathy across American society.