Turns Out, People With Siblings Are More Empathetic

As it turns out, kids start experiencing empathy in their first days of life. As we grow, we learn more about people’s feelings, but those who grow up with siblings learn it on an even deeper level. Our siblings make us better people every day, even if we don’t notice it.

Here at Bright Side, we learned a secret superpower that siblings have and can’t wait to share it with you.

Some people are more empathetic than others.

Some of the factors that determine the level of empathy one can experience are based on genetics, but the rest can be learned. The family plays a crucial role in forming this trait. If parents and their children have warm and responsive relationships, the kids can usually adopt these tendencies and become more empathetic.

A child spends more time with their sibling than with any other family member.

Therefore, they learn a lot from their siblings. It was found that having a sibling contributes to children’s ability to cooperate, solve problems, and understand other’s emotions better.

Younger kids learn a lot from their older siblings who are more experienced in life and have better abilities during childhood. Warmer relationships between siblings often result in younger kids having a high level of cooperation, better behavior, and a higher level of empathy.

Younger siblings teach older ones about care and concern.

A recent study investigated the role of having a sibling on children’s empathetic concern. In 2 situations, the interviewer simulated hurting their own knee and finger, all while recording the child’s behavior. The third situation involved sadness.

The interviewer first introduced their “favorite toy from childhood” which they later accidentally broke or they “accidentally” dropped a box of pencils. Each time, the researchers observed the kids’ responses to these simulated situations. The experiment was repeated again after 18 months.

It turns out that there were no differences in empathy levels between girls and boys. And as was predicted, older siblings’ empathic concern increased the empathy level of younger ones over time. The bigger the age gap, the stronger the influence.

But it was also found that younger siblings’ empathy led to an increase in care and concern from older siblings as well, and this effect was even higher. Interestingly, the strength of the empathetic influence of one sibling on another didn’t depend on the level of warmth in their relationships that was reported by their mothers. Looks like just having a sibling makes us better people.

Do you have any siblings? What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned from them?