Time Pressure

Doctors have become less empathetic, but is it their fault?

David Scales

But outside of medicine, a link between our environment and empathy has been known for four decades. The famous 1973 Princeton study of seminarians tested altruistic behaviour in a controlled stressful situation. The men were assigned to give a talk about either the Good Samaritan or about getting good jobs. Some were told that they were already late for the talk, others that they had plenty of time to arrive at the talk location. Along the way they had to pass through an alley where a fake victim was lying in distress, coughing and appearing to be unconscious. The question was: would they stop to help?