INDIANAPOLIS -- If you're looking for ways to help teach your child how to be more empathetic, there may just be an app for that.
"Random App of Kindness" was created at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis.
The goal of their app is to get kids doing things that research has shown can help them build more empathy.
Sara Konrath, Assistant Professor of Philanthropic Studies at IUPUI is an empathy expert and worked with the developers of the app. She said the group took the building blocks of learning to be empathetic and put them straight into the app.
Players have to do things like try to get away from an angry person as quickly as possible, figure out what a crying baby needs and help an elderly woman cross the street.
Konrath said she tested the app on kids between the ages of 10 and 17 over a two-month period and found the ones who played their game versus a standard game were more likely to help others.
“They also felt more compassion for that person,” said Konrath “These are the things we’re trying to develop in children and to me it’s remarkable that there’s evidence that we can do that with an app, so I hope this is the beginning of other people creating pro-social apps like this.”
"Random App of Kindness' can be downloaded for free on Itunes and in the Google Play store.
