The study, which appears in the journal Current Biology, “suggests that humans tend to empathize by default unless prejudice is at play,” says the lead researcher, Alessio Avenanti, PhD, an assistant professor of psychology at the University of Bologna. We see this everyday in America.

“People of Italian and African descent watched short film clips that showed needles pricking black- and white-skinned hands. As they watched, researchers measured the participants’ empathy (i.e., their nervous-system activity) by monitoring sensors attached to the same spot on their hands. They also tracked the participants’ heart rates and sweat-gland activity, a common measure of emotional response. ‘White observers reacted more to the pain of white than black models, and black observers reacted more to the pain of black than white models,’” said Avenanti.

“The researchers also showed clips of a needle pricking a hand painted bright purple. Both the Italian and African participants were more likely to empathize with this intentionally strange-looking hand than with the hand of another race, which implies that the earlier lack of empathy was due to skin color, not just difference.”