We hypothesize that if a person is an adult, they will be more empathetic due to more experience in the environment and society.

- Participating in leisurely activity has been proven to impove mood and overall well being which can help prove understanding of others emotions

- The anterior insula is responsible for neurocognitive systems such as affective, empathetic, and interoceptive processes 

- The role of empathy in the interior insula has been proven by numerous studies which report activity in response to others suffering (e.i. Painful phsyical or thermal heat stimuli) and to emotions of disgust,fear, anxiety, and depression.

- Although research has shown that older individuals tend to display lower results of cognitive empathy when compared to younger individuals, it is clear that they do display an increase of emotional empathy through numerous studies.

- Females are more prosocial, sympathetic, and empathetic than males, from childhood through adolescence

Some variables that didn't change throughout the experiment:

- The video which was being presented 

- The two questionnaires that went with the video 

- The electronic device used to present the video (MacBook, same model) 

Variables that did change throughout the experiment  

- How each participant reacted to the video 

- How long they spent on the questionnaires 

- Where the experiment took place (friends were put in a "break-out" room by themselves, and family where either put in a home office by themselves or in a room with no distractions - like TV sounds, phones, or just background noise in general)

The procedure went as following:

1. We would ask the participant to sit down, then answer a "before video" questionnaire with a pencil we provided.  We then instructed them to press play on the video when they are done answering the first questionnaire.  We would then leave the room and close the door.  
2. After the video is done playing, they would either shout for our names or open the door.  We would come in, collect their questionnaire, then hand their second questionnaire to them and exit the room once again; we would always ask them to be specific when answering the questions.
3. Once they are done with the second questionnaire, we would collect it and the participant is free to leave.
4. All the data was kept in a separate plastic folder which only I and my partner were allowed to access.

Our Observations:

• Adults seemed to empathize with many videos, never just one; and their mood was always chaotic or a mix of emotions afterwards.  
• Adolescents had varied reactions; what I mean by this is that some reacted very strongly to one or tell clips max - most commonly the sad ones - whilst some were confused as to why the characters were doing what they were doing and felt like laughing throughout the whole video.  
• Kids under 13 also felt like laughing, because the videos were "silly" (quote from one of the participants on the questionnaire).
• Women and girls were more cognitively and emotionally empathetic.  They put themselves in others shoes and used an event that they have experienced to understand how the characters were feeling.  
• The adolescents reacted more strongly to the "bing-bong" animation movie, "Up" animation movie, or Regina George (blonde girl in pink) screaming out of anger.
• The guys also reacted to Regina, but only because they were either bothered by the high pitch screaming, or wondering why she was screaming at all.

The outcomes of this experiment vary based on both gender and age of the participants. The adults/parents involved were either empathetic to all the videos in the compilation and felt a strong connection to every emotion, or would conversely not feel much empathy at all. For teenage participants, especially female ones, it was noted that sadness has a large impact. Most of the participants of this demographic started off in a calmer mood, but once exposed to a clip of sadness, they never fully came back up to their initial emotional state. Male youth and adolescent participants were more likely to take the emotions presented less seriously, and find the clips to be humorous. Common factors stated by participants as causes for empathy were relationships with friends, family, especially from their maternal side, as well as learning about and understanding different perspectives. The clips that elicited the most reactions were the clips from Mean Girls (anger), Inside Out (sadness), Captain Phillips (sadness and fear), and Stranger Things (disgust). The clip from the movie Up (showing love) was briefly mentioned by a couple of participants who have romantic partners.  Whilst the boys merely scratched the surface when trying to find a possibility for Regina’s outburst, the girls assumed a situation that she was in, most probably because they have either experienced or witnessed a situation like that before.

Based on the data collected in the experiment, we proved that our hypothesis was not necessarily true and that there was no distinction for empathy based on age.  In our research, we came across experiments in which the adults performed well in emotional empathy, on the other hand, they regressed in their ability to show cognitive empathy.  In another study, we found that females generally are better at showing empathy than males through their childhood and adolescence.  these findings were corrobarated with our data from the experiment, which was that females - both adults and teens - presented with stronger connections to the scenes shown and were more likely to empathize with the video due to past experiences and personal biases.  

This would be applied in the real world for understanding the relations between individuals and improving communication in regards to emotions and empathy.  This could additionally provide insight for understanding the opposite genders's behaviors/reactions and the reasons for them.  For example, in a relationship between a male and a female, it would be typical to get into an argument. This experiment provides insight as to what could make the opposite genders mad and the thought process for each individual. This may be because the male in the scenario does not extend their understanding of what the other person might be upset about or feeling. Taking the Regina George example from our experiment, the male participants proved a lack of understanding when trying to figure out what she was screaming about. The female participants, however, provided a scenario that may have led to the events seen in the clip.

Potential sources of error may be in regards to gender and age diversity of our participants, as well as the total number of participants used. For our youth participants, only two were male. This could mean that the outcomes from the two male participants would have more weight, and could potentially skew the results a bit. Additionally, we used more youth participants than adult ones, and out of the youth participants, all were teenagers and only one was a child. It may have been better to have an equal amount of participants from each age group, as that would provide a more accurate comparative. We had a small sample size for this project, only using 10 volunteers whom we personally know. If we were to use a larger group, with more participants in each age and gender category, we may have found different overall results. Furthermore, if we were to involve individuals we do not know personally, we may have been able to find drastically different experiences for individuals and different results. This is because the people we gravitate towards are usually similar to us, which limits diversity in the case of this experiment.

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Figures exchanging thoughts as a representation of empathy. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.amacad.org/news/empathy-and-our-future

Guariglia, P., Palmiero, M., Giannini, A. M., & Piccardi, L. (2023, September 4). The key role of empathy in the relationship between age and Social Support. Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10487866/#:~:text=Previous%20studies%20have%20shown%20how,31,32,33]. 

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Uddin, L. Q., Nomi, J. S., Hébert-Seropian, B., Ghaziri, J., & Boucher, O. (2017, July). Structure and function of the human insula. Journal of clinical neurophysiology : official publication of the American Electroencephalographic Society. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6032992/#:~:text=The%20role%20of%20the%20anterior,fear%2C%20anxiety%2C%20and%20happiness. 

We would like to acknowledge all of the participants of this experiment who made our project possible, and provided us with insightful information in regards to the topic of empathy. We would also like to thank our mentor, Mr. MacLean, for helping us navigate this project and providing us with the necessary support to complete it.  We would additionally like to recognize the National Institute of Health and Harvard Business Review for providing the necessary research and information for our project; as well as Amacad and BW Well Being World for the pictures we chose for our project.