Ease of Computer programming and empathy: an exploratory study

Background and Context Digital technologies have become part of our lives. Meanwhile, computer programming, the activity that mediates the communication between humans and technology, has expanded to fields and practitioners beyond Computer Science. Programmers who give instructions to digital artifacts should have proper awareness of the artifacts’ states and environments. This often requires them to change their point of view in order to better interact with those systems. Notably, this skill resembles a fundamental human ability that can be learned and developed over time: empathy.Objective In this study, we probed potential connections between computer programming activities (object-oriented programming, educational coding games, educational robotics) and programmers’ level of empathy, to gain further insights into human-technology interactions.Method Through a quantitative approach, an online survey was implemented and data were collected from 104 adults in Greece with prior experience in computer programming. The majority of the participants work in education or education-related fields (58%).Findings According to the results, statistically valid relationships were observed between ease of programming and empathy, either directly with it or with at least one of its components (cognitive empathy, emotional empathy and social skills).Implications The indicated correlations between computer programming and empathy could represent a paradigm shift in the field of Education and lead to a deeper understanding of Computer Science Education and Didactics.