People avoid feeling empathy because it "takes more work" and requires too much energy, new research has found.Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have investigated people's ability to empathise with those around them, by presenting 1,200 participants with a series of experiments involving two decks of cards.In one version of the study, both card decks contained images of downtrodden refugee children, while in another, some of the images were of happy people and others of sad people.

In all instances, however, each deck came with different instructions; one deck was labelled "feel" and the other "describe", prompting patients to either imagine the emotion represented on the card or write an objective statement about it, respectively.The researchers found that people steered clear of empathy 65 per cent of the time, regardless of whether the emotion that they were presented with was positive or negative.Additionally, it was reported that participants believed that acting empathetically demanded too much mental energy, and that some expressed a concern that too much empathy could override rationality and even lead them to act against their own interests in certain situations.Reflecting on the findings, the study's lead author, Dr.

C.

Daryl Cameron, expressed that empathy is an important component for bonding and motivating people to help one another."If we can shift people's motivations toward engaging in empathy, then that could be good news for society as a whole," he stated.

"It could encourage people to reach out to groups who need help, such as immigrants, refugees and the victims of natural disasters."