What happens if you give a man $2? We all learned from the Laura Numeroff children’s book that if you give a mouse a cookie, he is bound to want some milk, for which he’ll need a straw. The chain continues. According to the Scholastic, Inc. website, the story is supposed to teach the reader about the life of a mom. To me it seems as if the book advocates against sharing. The moral: When you share with someone, he or she is bound to ask for more.

Last week, while eating at Shanghai Express, my friends and I were approached by an older man dressed in ragged, baggy clothing. After asking how we were doing, he said, “I have to go all the way back to Durham. Do y’all know where that is?” He then proceeded to complain about all of the buses he had to take to get home.

Eventually, he got to his point: “So, I really need just $2 to get back home — no drugs or alcohol. I came here looking for work, and now I need to get home.”

I’m a sucker, so I reached for my wallet. Not only did my friends not pitch in, but they looked disgusted that I gave money to a stranger. When I told my roommate she responded, “You trust people too much.”

That’s probably true, and giving money to strangers is definitely not the best way to give back. But what is $2 to me? Many of us use the “poor college kids” excuse while drinking a latte from Starbucks, which is insulting to people who actually have financial struggles.

According to a meta-analysis published in 2010 by the University of Michigan, college students are less empathetic today than they were 30 years ago. The New York Times reported that from 1979 to 2009, the empathy of American college students decreased 40 percent. The study looked at 72 other studies that used the 28-item scale Interpersonal Reactivity Index. According to the Los Angeles Times, it gauges interpersonal sensitivity on the following bases:

Empathetic concern (feelings of sympathy for others’ misfortunes).

Perspective taking (how people imagine others’ points of view).

Fantasy (how people identify with fictional characters in books or movies).

Personal distress (how people feel when they see the misfortunes of others).

Sara Konrath of the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research said, “This generation of college students grew up with video games, and a growing body of research … is establishing that exposure to violent media numbs people to the pain of others.”

The researchers attributed this change to an increased focus on self, the prevalence of violence in the media and the growth of social networks. The researchers believe that by spending so much time meeting people on the Internet, members of our society are losing interpersonal skills needed for real life. Edward O’Brien, one of the study’s co-authors, said, “College students today may be so busy worrying about themselves and their own issues that they don’t have time to spend empathizing with others, or at least perceive such time to be limited.”

People may be bad or immoral, but not perpetually so. If you give a man $2, he’ll probably say thank you and leave you alone.