2.1 Rat Empathy Research

The New York Times article that I read was talking about empathy and morality. It mentioned how humans are obviously empathetic but those other animals could be as well Such as rats, the University of Chicago constructed an experiment about empathy using rats. supposedly a rat would see another rat in need of help then take a bite of chocolate and then go help and save the victim rat. the constant variable of the experiment was a white rat and it was tested by seeing if it would save another rat. The first test was a white rat raised with white rats to go and save a black rat but the white rat wouldn't do it. the second test was a white rat raised with only black rats would save a black rat but not a white. the third test was a white rat raised with both black and white rats would save both colored rats. this experiment was to symbolize how a human can be biased in empathizing.

The New York Times