The Roots of Empathy and Childrens SocialEmotional Competence From Theory to Practice to Effectivene

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The Roots of Empathy and Childrens
Social-Emotional CompetenceFrom Theory to
Practice to Effectiveness

• Bryan W. Sokol
• Saint Louis University, Missouri, USA
• bsokol1_at_slu.edu
• In collaboration with
• Snjezana Huerta, Stephanie McKenzie, Theo Elfers,
• Stuart Hammond, and Jayne Siddall
• Simon Fraser University, Canada

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Quick Update
The following presentation is based on research
that my SFU lab group recently presented at the
annual meeting of the Association for Moral
Education
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Context is Everything
Sinner?
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Context is Everything
Or Saint?
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ROERules of Engagement
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ROERoots of Empathy
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Empathy or Co-FeelingOld New

• Adam Smith (1790) Empathy does not arise so
  much from the view of the passion feeling, as
  from that situation which excites it
• Hoffman an affective response more appropriate
  to anothers situation than ones own
• Kohut the capacity to think and feel oneself
  into the inner life of another person
• Batson other-oriented feelings congruent with
  the perceived welfare of another person
• Eisenberg as affective response that stems from
  the apprehension or comprehension of anothers
  emotional state or condition, and that is similar
  to what the other person is feeling or would be
  expected to feel

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Empathy Biological Origins

• Mirror neurons are activated when humans observe
  an action in other people they are argued to be
  the neurological mechanism for empathy
• Mirror neurons will do for psychology what DNA
  did for biology (V.S. Ramachandran)
• For more info
• www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/
• sciencenow/3204/01.html

Macaque Brain
Human Brain
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Empathy Social Interactional (or Relational) View

• Empathy is not a process that originates in any
  one individual
• Empathy is a shared, practical activity by which
  individuals achieve an understanding of their own
  and others emotional lives by constructing them
  together
• Empathy occurs between people, not neurons or
  brains

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My Two Mirror Neurons?(an excuse to show more
family photos)
Quinn 1 year old
Noah 4 years old
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Jean Piaget Relational Theorist

• Moral Judgment of the Child Moral reasoning is
  a reflection of the practical activities that
  children have with parents and peers
• Parent-child asymmetrical (unbalanced) relations
  lead to heteronomous morality
• Peer (child-child) symmetrical (balanced)
  relations lead to autonomous morality
• Empathy, like morality, is a co-constructed,
  relational enterprise distinct relational forms
  yield distinct empathic outcomes (e.g., care)

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Moving Beyond Piaget

• Asymmetrical relational structure promotes
  other-oriented concern or care, particularly when
  the asymmetry emerges within a peer context
• Asymmetries are a function of agency -- the range
  of actions an individual is capable of performing
  relative to others in a situation (video game
  example)

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Revisiting the Rules of Engagement

• With great(er) power, comes great(er)
  responsibility (basis for ROE)

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ROEs Relational Context Agency and Moral Growth

• Relational dynamics of the Roots of Empathy
  provide the ideal conditions for moral growth
• The program pairs agentive child(ren) with an
  infant
• Discussions about the baby become a vehicle for
  reflecting on agency and responsibility

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Theory and Practice Disconnect

• In theory, the program promotes a conventional
  view of empathy the ability to see and feel as
  others see and feel (Gordon, 2000, p. 10).
• But, in practice, the programs emphasis revolves
  around differences in agency
• An (unconventional) relational theory would
  provide a sounder foundation for the program
  and, fit better with its (unconventional)
  approach to empowering children

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Thanks! Next upSnjezana Huertato speak on how
we are beginning to move this theoretical
framework into practice
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Childrens Social Cognition, Moral Emotion
Attribution, and Prosocial BehaviourPresented
at AME 2007, New York, USA
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Socio-Moral Competence

• Socio-emotional understanding
• Interpretive Theory of Mind
• Moral Emotion Attributions

• Socio-relational context
• Classroom Connectedness

• Childrens Report (Empathy)
• Childrens Report (Prosocial)

• Sharing Task (Familiar)
• Sharing Task (Unfamiliar)

• Teacher Report (Empathy)
• Teacher Report (Prosocial)

Behavioural Outcomes
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iToM Interpretive Theory of Mind

• (Price, 1953)

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MEA Moral Emotion Attributions

• Prototypical prohibitory condition

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MEA Moral Emotion Attributions

• Discretionary prosocial condition

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Sharing Task
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Questionnaires

• Teachers Report
• Childs Report

3. This child usually comforts others who are
upset or hurt. 14. This child usually gets upset
when she/he sees another child being hurt. 18.
This child spontaneously helps to pick up objects
another child has dropped (e.g., pencil or
book).
10. Do you help other kids pick up things? 14.
Does it make you sad to see a kid who cant find
anyone to play with? 17. Do you help someone who
is hurt or sick?
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Findings

• iToM Non-Interpretive and Interpretive Scores

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Findings (contd)

• MEA Valence and Orientation of Responses

Swing Story ?2(1) 17.143, p lt .001 Party
story ?2 (1) 27.107, p lt .001
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Findings (contd)

• MEA iToM Not significant
• Sharing Familiar vs. Unfamiliar Significantly
  Different Means
• Childrens Reports - Empathy Prosocial
  Behaviour Significant
• Teachers Reports - Empathy Prosocial
  Behaviour Significant
• Childrens Teachers Reports - Empathy
  Significant
• Childrens Teachers Reports - Prosocial
  Behaviour Not Significant
• Childrens Teachers Reports and Sharing Task
  Not Related

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Findings (contd)

• The combined DVs significantly affected by iToM
  F(6, 28) 3.73, p lt .01
• No interaction effects
• Association between the combined DVs and the
  level of iToM was modest partial ?2 .44

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Findings (contd)

• Mean Scores in Child and Teacher Reports on
  Childrens Empathy and Prosocial Behaviour
  across iToM levels

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Classroom Connectedness

• (Huerta, 2007)

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Classroom-level Findings

• Descriptive analyses of Classes A and C
  

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Moving Forward

• More participants
• Broader age range
• Distributive justice measure
• New DV?