Most "less popular" people I know are actually just normal people with different priorities. They are empathetic if they value empathy, less so otherwise. You seem to be talking about insecure nihilists. We all know that "edgelord" from class who had some antisocial tendencies but wanted the rewards of what they saw as "winning" but rather than change to get it, they say "it's unfair how the system chooses winners and losers" and then all the people who don't notice and agree are just sheep. Empathy would get in the way of feeling sorry for themselves and make it harder to blame other people. Normal people don't have that problem.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

This exactly. If you act negative all the time, of course most people aren't going to want to be around you and vice versa. Most people are probably somewhere in the middle. They aren't all cheery all the time, but they aren't a-holes either.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I wonder if maybe you're basing this on one person's experience but speaking in absolutes as if you've studied a large and diverse pool of people

by Anonymous 2 days ago

how could you even tell who was popular?

by Madalinegleichn 2 days ago

I don't think this is totally true. Empathy is not a group mindset. It's an individual mindset. You can have either type in either group.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I don't think they are insinuating being in the popular group makes someone more likely to be empathetic, rather I believe what they are suggesting is that being empathetic makes you likeable which is more likely to make you popular with people. Most people like it when they feel heard, understood, and not judged by others, which is something that truly empathetic people excel at. People who make snap judgments, don't take the time to consider the perspectives of others, or refuse to even entertain ideas that might go against their own also tend to alienate themselves. Non-empathetic behaviours are usually bad for forming social bonds so claiming a lack of empathy can make someone unpopular isn't really a stretch. I think what OP was trying to say was essentially empathetic people are usually more likeable and are more likely to attract others to them, while unempathetic people are more likely to ostracize themselves and get relegated to more alienated/niche groups usually filled with other angry unempathetic people (aka the unpopular crowd)

by Anonymous 2 days ago

This doesn't even sound remotely scientific. Based on what little I understand about behavioural psychology, I think your premise is entirely flawed. This is completely biased and anecdotal.

by vincenzo65 2 days ago

Once again we are conflating empathy with Something Else. I'm not sure what you think empathy is but you definitely aren't using the word correctly.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

"Popular" and "less popular" all sounds like high school

by Anonymous 2 days ago

That's bull, I have no-one really besides my partner but I care about the human race a lot, so much so it's hard to stand the human race when there's so much discourse.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

There is literally no correlation. Aside from your limited personal experience which proves nothing of course.

by Johathan21 2 days ago

Well durr

by Anonymous 2 days ago

I would not say popular people have more empathy. They are just better at faking it / acting like they have empathy. Sure they are probably more positive but i would not say that is always a good thing, they may be better at reading people because they have more social interactions and they usually change ''character'' based on what they think will work in certain groups or to some people better, thus being fake.

by Anonymous 2 days ago

Who cares lol

by Marta66 2 days ago

Unpopular people tend to be way more negative about themselves Well yeah. If you're liked you're going to view yourself better. Like if everyone thinks you're ugly, you're unlikely to like your own appearance. And being less attractive means you're generally by default less popular.

by Kiel36 2 days ago