Tabs 2013 Empathy Presentation

The Need for Empathy in the Global Education Curriculum

Seth Leighton Envoys

§ What are we talking about? § My empathy story § My global empathy story § Creating global empathy § Avoiding the ‘arrogance of empathy’

The willingness and capacity of an observer to become part of another’s experience

E.B. Tichneer

Sympathy means that we feel sorry for another’s plight

Empathy means that we enter into another’s emotional and cognitive state

Four Lessons

Empathy does not mean agreement

~Jeremy Rifkin 2010

Empathy seems hard

We are supposed to compete

We are supposed to collaborate

Empathy is powerful

Increases cognitive skills and academic success

Reduces bullying and conflict

Increases communication and understanding

Models matter

We follow the behaviors that we see in the world around us

THE NEED FOR EMPATHY TRAINING

You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit - the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us. ~Barack Obama

Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto

I am human; nothing human is foreign to me

IS TRAVEL THE ANSWER?

“Educational travel catalogs resemble soft porn, with pictures of bikini-clad girls going zip-lining in foreign lands.�

H eadmaster US Independent School

Preparation

Exposure

Reflection

Assessment

Learn about history and current events

Set an intentional agenda for research and skill building

Emotional Recognition

Consider “other” views of reality

Situational PerspectiveTaking

A) B) C) D)

Embarrassment Fear Sadness Surprise

A) B) C) D)

Pride Contempt Excitement Anger

A) B) C) D)

All images taken from Greater Good Science Center, University of California at Berkeley

Sadness Shame Disgust Contempt

Fear

Pride

All images taken from Greater Good Science Center, University of California at Berkeley

Contempt

GLOBAL

Preparation

Exposure

Reflection

Assessment

Model appropriate behaviors “Be the change you wish to see�

Set a priority on cooperation and respect, not donations and pity

Focus on similarities, not differences

Provide safe room for exploration to occur and mistakes to happen

GLOBAL

Preparation

Exposure

Reflection

Assessment

CONCRETE EXPERIENCE

ACTIVE EXPERIMENTATION

REFLECTIVE OBSERVATION

ABSTRACT CONCEPTUALIZATION

Managing empathic distress

Daily learning points and overall systems mapping

Sharing the adventure and stories for home

Facilitating plans for action

GLOBAL

Preparation

Exposure

Reflection

Assessment

Situational Empathy • Empathic reactions to specific situations or experiences

Dispositional Empathy • A stable (though mutable) character trait

Situational Empathy •  Empathic reactions to specific situations or experiences

Self-reports

Observations

Interviews

Hogan’s EM Scale Mehrabian and Epstein’s QMEE

Davis’ IRI

Dispositional Empathy • A stable (though mutable) character trait

perspective taking

fantasy

empathic concern

personal distress

Fantasy • I daydream and fantasize, with some regularity, about things that might happen to me • When I watch a good movie, I can very easily put myself in the place of a leading character • When I am reading an interesting story or novel, I imagine how I would feel if the events in the story were happening to me.

Perspective Taking • I sometimes find it difficult to see things from the "other guy's" point of view • If I'm sure I'm right about something, I don't waste much time listening to other people's arguments.

• I believe that there are two sides to every question and try to look at them both.

Empathic Concern • I often have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me • When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective towards them • Other people's misfortunes do not usually disturb me a great deal

Personal Distress • Being in a tense emotional situation scares me • When I see someone who badly needs help in an emergency, I go to pieces • I sometimes feel helpless when I am in the middle of a very emotional situation.

CAN

Preparation

Exposure

Reflection

Assessment

BUT WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL…

I AM NOT YOU

Hello, babies. Welcome to Earth.

It's hot in the summer and cold in the winter.

It's round and wet and crowded.

At the outside, babies, you've got about a hundred years here. There's only one rule that I know of, babies— God damn it, you've got to be kind." ~Kurt Vonnegut

Thank You!

seth@envoys.com