Now More Than Ever: The Vital Role of Empathy in Teaching

Brad Garner and Tiffany Snyder: Innovation and Partnerships, Indiana Wesleyan University

Empathy is seeing with the eyes of another, listening with the ears of another, and feeling with the heart of another, and feeling with the heart of another.

—Alfred Adler, Austrian psychotherapist (1870-1937)

The past two years have been tumultuous and challenging for instructors and students in higher education. The COVID pandemic, a transition from classroom-based instruction to Emergency Remote Teaching, heightened awareness of social justice issues, and the Black Lives Matter movement have dramatically impacted colleges and universities and their students worldwide. Realistically, these issues will not go away quietly. This reality requires that instructors actively engage with students in a caring and supportive manner to help them process what they are learning and understand their place in the larger scheme of world events. In this issue of The Toolbox, we will examine how instructors can demonstrate empathy to create a supportive and caring environment for their students.

An Incredibly Brief History of Empathy

Given the widespread use of the term, it may be somewhat surprising to learn that the concept of demonstrating empathy is relatively new. One of the first references to empathy is attributed to the English psychologist Edward Bradford Titchener’s translation of the German term Einfüflung, which roughly means “in feeling” (Titchener, 1908). This translation, however, and the concept of what we know as empathy today were not originally intended to reference how one understands the emotional status of others. Instead, it described physiological responses and feelings experienced when viewing various colors, angles, and shapes. Things like the curve of a jar or the horizontal lines of a mahogany chair were thought to create certain types of emotional responses on the part of observers (Lanzoni, 2018).

In a brilliant review of the history of empathy, Lanzoni (2018) reported the word empathy did not appear in the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary or the Concise Oxford Dictionary until 1944 and then only as an addition to defining the German term Einfühlung. Lanzoni also noted a dramatic increase in the widespread use of this term in the decades following World War II. Even though the exact use of the word empathy was not used with uniform meaning, it was used quite often about movies and theater productions, to explain responses to the performance of sporting teams, interpersonal skills in the workplace, family dynamics, advice columns, counseling settings, advertising, popular literature, and understanding the challenges of cultural issues.

In the realm of education, it is fascinating to look back at the work of John Dewey, a giant in the field of education, as he articulated the essence of empathy at a time when the word itself was rarely ever used. English (2019) examined the words and work of Dewey through the lens of a “globalized world.” One of the quotations used by English demonstrates Dewey’s understanding of empathy in teaching:

When the desires and aims, the interests and modes of response of another become an expansion of our own behalf, we understand him. We learn to see with his eyes, hear with his ears, and their results give authentic instruction, for they are built into our structure (Dewey, 1934/2008, p. 339).

Dewey described the best of circumstances in teaching and learning where an instructor and a student are in perfect synch, fully understanding one another within the learning context.

In common parlance, the term empathy is often confused and used interchangeably with sympathy. In the video The Power of Empathy (Davis, 2014), Breńe Brown narrated the story of a person who fell into a hole. Empathy occurs when someone says to the person in the hole, “Hey… I know what it’s like down there, and you’re not alone.” Sympathy is saying, “Oh, it’s bad … Do you want a sandwich?” Brown suggests that a sympathetic person may have difficulty acknowledging the other person’s pain and may tend to simply put a positive spin on the problem (e.g., “Things could be worse,” “Look on the bright side”). A person with empathy will climb down the hole to sit beside the person in pain and make themselves vulnerable, recognizing their struggle without minimizing it.

When and How?

There is often a tendency to perceive empathy as a soft and permissive way of interacting with students. For example, if a student presents a dramatic story to suggest they need extra time to complete an assignment, does an empathetic instructor need to grant an extension to indicate that they are responsive to the student’s circumstances? This examination of empathy does not purport to have a definitive answer to that question. However, there are things that instructors can do to relate to students in a consistently empathetic manner.

» As a starting point, it is essential for instructors to be present for their students. Instructor presence means “being there” for students but encompasses so much more. Rodgers and Raider-Roth (2006) described this sense of connection between faculty and students as

a state of alert awareness, receptivity, and connectedness to the mental, emotional, and physical workings of both the individual and the group in the context of their learning environments and the ability to respond with a considered and compassionate best next step. (p. 265)

Students need to see and know that instructors are attentive to their needs and concerns. Being present creates a pathway to building relationships and demonstrating empathy (For a more in-depth examination of presence, refer to The Toolbox, Volume 18/Number 6, July 2018).

» Keep the lines of communication open. Instructor availability is of primary importance. Create multiple ways that students can contact you (e.g., email, phone, text) and assure that the instructor will respond. It is helpful for instructors to announce and remain faithful to a commitment to respond to all communications from students within 24 hours.

» Watch and listen. Being observant requires a sensitivity to what students are saying and what they are not saying. Through your ongoing conversations with students, formal and informal, watch for verbal and visual clues that students may be struggling in your course and their lives. For example, simply asking, “Are you doing OK?” may be enough to open the door to a conversation. These observations are most critical for groups of students who may be at most significant risk (e.g., students of color, LGBTQ students, students with disabilities, firstgeneration students).

» Continually remind yourself that you are teaching students, not content. To be sure, your academic discipline is essential. However, instructors can most help their students by continually reinforcing that what students are thinking and feeling as they learn, and sometimes fail. That is more important than the content you are teaching.

» Promote academic rigor with sensitivity. Perhaps one of the most common interactions instructors have with students that invite empathy is feedback on submitted work. Jordan and Schwartz (2018), in their description of “radical empathy,” propose the following:

When we are at our most effective, we are able to communicate to students when their work falls short and at the same time, convey that we understand that the work can be challenging and that we care about their success. (p. 32)

Embrace the opportunity to be radically empathetic with your students.

References

Davis, K., (Director). (2014). RSA Shorts: The Power of Empathy [Video]. RSA House.

Dewey, J. (1934/2008). Art as experience. In J. A. Boydston (Ed.), The collected works of John Dewey: The later works (Vol. 1). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

English, A. R. (2019). John Dewey and the role of the teacher in a globalized World: Imagination, empathy, and ‘third voice.’ John Dewey’s Democracy and Education in an Era of Globalization, 70–88. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351112116-5

Jordan, J., & Schwartz, H. (2018). Radical empathy in teaching. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2018(153), 25-35. doi:10.1002/tl.20278.

Lanzoni, S. M. (2018). Empathy: A history. Yale University Press.

Rodgers, C. R., & Raider-Roth, M. B. (2006). Presence in teaching. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 12(3), 265-287. doi:10.1080/13450600500467548

Titchener, E. B. (1908). Lectures on the elementary psychology of feeling and attention. New York: Macmillan. doi:10.1037/10867-000