Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Creative Connections: Building Empathy To Foster Ecoliteracy Through Art Education, Jocelyn Salim

Masters Theses

This thesis investigates the potential positive impact of fostering empathy and understanding for the natural world through art education. Through action research, this study examines various teaching approaches, such as incorporating scientific knowledge, employing literature to discuss ecological themes, and engaging in participatory storytelling activities to cultivate empathy among elementary school children. The objective of this thesis is to explore empathy as a potential pathway to encourage children to foster connections with the natural world and develop compassionate traits, attitudes, and behaviors towards nature as they grow. The findings of this study reveal that children exhibit high levels of enthusiasm …

Comparing Levels Of Situational Empathy Based On Medium Of Exposure To Covid-19 Mortality Information: Does Political Affiliation Impact Levels Of Situational Empathy?, Keira N. Mills, Kaylee Ries, Beth Durkin, Abby Braden, Wesley Barnhart

Honors Projects

Psychophysical numbing, compassion fading, and the singularity effect are strongly affecting the world amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Empathy-motivated prosocial behavior is not consistent with the drastic number of lives lost due to COVID-19. The current study evaluated participants for situational empathy levels post-exposure to either COVID-19 death statistics or a personal reflection on loss due to COVID-19. Alongside empathy, political affiliation and COVID-19 personal loss were measured as potential moderators on the relationship between medium of exposure to mortality information and empathy levels in the sample.

Comparing Levels Of Situational Empathy Based On Medium Of Exposure To Covid-19 Mortality Information And Proximity To Others, Beth Durkin

Honors Projects

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many people expressed a lax attitude to the policies put in place to keep the public safe despite the high risk of infection and its devastating effects on health across the United States. It is possible that this response may be partially due to a “numbness to numbers,” a phenomenon that describes diminished empathy for a large group of people experiencing a negative event (eg. COVID-19). The present study explored the relationship between levels of situational empathy and the medium of exposure to COVID-19 mortality information (eg. personal story or fact sheet) in an …

Empathy In Police Officers Undergoing De-Escalation Simulation Training: A Comparison Between Virtual Reality And Live Action Modalities, Jacqueline Kohl

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This study compared empathy among police officers undergoing mental health crisis de-escalation training in virtual reality and live action training modalities. The study included police officers across different police services in Ontario (N=63) and evaluated the efficacy of the Mental Health Crisis Response Training (MHCRT, Lavoie et al., 2020) program delivered across virtual reality and live action modalities against a control group that did not receive the training program. After collection of participants’ demographics, empathy scores, and de-escalation competency scores, a series of correlations, ANOVAs and ANCOVAs were conducted. Results showed that participants receiving MHCRT virtual reality and …

“I Hear You”: Exploring The Lived Experience Of Counselors’ Empathic Response To Clients When Conducting Telephonic Counseling During Covid-19, Michael Sickels

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Dissertation supervised by Dr. Debra Hyatt-Burkhart

This study sought to unearth the lived experience of counselors empathically responding to clients via telephonic counseling during COVID-19. The term empathic response refers to as attending to the emotional and mental state of another person in a way that is attuned with the feelings and meanings of the individual’s experience. There are few studies that have assessed the merits of telephonic counseling, and even fewer that have examined counselors’ empathic response to clients through this medium.

To uncover the lived experience of the target population, the participants of the study were purposefully selected …

Becoming A More Empathetic Leader And Person, Rachel Shellstrom

Undergraduate Honors Theses

When defining empathy, the most common definition is “stepping into someone else’s shoes.” Along with this definition, many also share that it is important to have empathy and be an empathetic person. Yet, when thinking about its importance and this definition, a few questions arise: can we actually step into someone else’s shoes? Can we truly understand what someone else is feeling and experiencing if we are not them or do not hold the same identities that they do? Through a deeper exploration of existing empathy building certificate programs and empathy research, this thesis project explores these exact questions and …

Adolescent Cognition As A Dynamic System : Examining Complex Cognition, Concepts And Context, Rachael R. Doubledee

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

The transition to adolescence is characterized by the rapid development of many interacting social, emotional, and cognitive processes. Adolescent development is organized around developing successful peer relationships and peer interactions which can improve social standing, define group memberships, and develop a social identity. In the first manuscript, I identified cognitive complexity as an important underlying developmental concept to adolescent development and established a theoretical foundation. Cognitive complexity was explored through a dynamic systems approach which examined the interacting processes of development in addition to outcomes. In the second manuscript, secondary interviews (N = 24) were analyzed in a multi-stage process. …

Strategies For Reducing Employee Turnover In Small And Medium Enterprises, Olusegun Ayinde Fadahunsi

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Employee turnover negatively impacts small and medium enterprises (SME) sustainability. SME leaders are interested in finding workable strategies to reduce turnover and the high cost of hiring new employees. Grounded in the transformational leadership theory, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies SME leaders in Nigeria used to reduce employee turnover. The participants were three SME business owners who successfully reduced employee turnover. Data were collected using semistructured interviews and a review of company documents. Through thematic analysis, four themes were identified: effective leadership practices, focus on employees’ working conditions, enhancing employees’ competence, and implementing …

Integrating Empathy Pedagogy With Feminist Thought And Social Justice Praxis, Ashlyn Elizabeth Brown

Institute for the Humanities Theses

This thesis outlines the need for empathy pedagogy in higher education. It will examine how empathy pedagogy can be integrated with feminist thought and social justice praxis. I argue that when we integrate empathy pedagogy with feminist thought and social justice, we are building the capacity for students to understand others’ lives in oppression. Furthermore, an integrated modality of teaching empathy will allow students to foster the traits of empathy within themselves; students are then better able to act as agents of social change by utilizing the traits of empathy to actively listen, self-reflect, and mindfully engage with other lived …

"I Understand, Honey": Perceived Spousal Empathy's Moderating Influence On The Links Between Depression And Marital Satisfaction And Marital Satisfaction And Physical Health, F. Javier Celestino

Theses and Dissertations

An adapted version of the Vulnerability-Stress-Adaptation model was used as a theoretical guide for this study, which proposes that adaptive processes exist and can moderate relationships between enduring vulnerabilities and different outcomes. Relationships of interest include the negative link between depression and marital satisfaction and the positive link between marital satisfaction and physical health. An adaptive process of interest is empathy, due to its well-researched positive impact on mental, relational, and physical health. This study examined whether perceived spousal empathy (i.e., the empathy perceived by one spouse coming from their spouse) had any moderating effects on the previously mentioned links. …

Service Learning And The Experiential Learning Cycle In Elementary School, Brittney D. Rose

Teaching & Learning Theses & Dissertations

There has been an increase in interest in service learning in the past decade (Kuh et al., 2017). However, there has been less attention given to service learning in elementary school, particularly to service learning that does not focus on academic outcomes for the students (Scott & Graham, 2015). This qualitative instrumental case study utilized focus groups with fifth grade students, interviews with educators, education specialists and a nonprofit representative, and observational notes to explore students’ and educators’ experiences as they participated in a service learning project in conjunction with a nonprofit organization. Findings indicate that specific collaborative practices, such …

Therapeutic Wilderness Experiences And Empathetic Perception Of At-Risk Adolescent Youth, Sandra Short-Robbins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Current research involving wilderness therapy (WT) programs indicates that therapeutic wilderness or outdoor interventions have increased in popularity as alternative approaches for treating at-risk or adjudicated adolescents. However, the role that empathetic perception plays in advancing the efficacy of WT intervention absent from the majority of extant literature. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to address a gap in research involving how empathetic perception may be affected by WT program participation. The conceptual framework for the project involved ecopsychology, a branch of science that addresses the connection between human beings and the natural world. Nine young adults between …

Therapeutic Wilderness Experiences And Empathetic Perception Of At-Risk Adolescent Youth, Sandra Short-Robbins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Current research involving wilderness therapy (WT) programs indicates that therapeutic wilderness or outdoor interventions have increased in popularity as alternative approaches for treating at-risk or adjudicated adolescents. However, the role that empathetic perception plays in advancing the efficacy of WT intervention absent from the majority of extant literature. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to address a gap in research involving how empathetic perception may be affected by WT program participation. The conceptual framework for the project involved ecopsychology, a branch of science that addresses the connection between human beings and the natural world. Nine young adults between …

Music And Peacebuilding: A Survey Of Two Israeli Ensembles Using Music And Dialogue To Build Understanding, Empathy, And Conflict Transformation, Benjamin Philip Bergey

Dissertations, 2014-2019

The purpose of this thesis was to examine the work of two Israeli ensembles that bring diverse musicians together through music and dialogue. Dialogue is a key tool for transforming conflict and building peace that hinges on critical, empathetic listening.[1] Music ensembles, with their opportunities for participants to practice listening, are contexts in which participants and instructors can learn how to communicate and engage in dialogue to improve interpersonal relationships in pursuit of peace.

The Polyphony Foundation and the Jerusalem Youth Chorus bring Arab and Jewish youth together in Israel to make music and practice dialogue. This thesis examines …

Pilot Study Of Empathy In Bilingual Adults, Libby Moberg

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Empathy is of critical public health importance due to its association with relationship satisfaction and well-being (Davis & Oathout, 1987; Davis, 1983). There is growing evidence that bilingual individuals may have higher levels of empathy (Javor, 2016). One potential mechanism for this relationship is that bilingual individuals tend to have higher levels of executive functioning (Costa et al, 2008), which is linked to higher empathy because individuals are able to more easily adopt others’ perspectives. Previous studies examining this question have largely relied on self-report questionnaires assessing empathy as a general tendency (i.e., trait). No studies have examined differences in …

Bridging The Gaps In Bringing In The Bystander: An Intersectional Approach To Campus-Based Sexual Violence Prevention, Anne E. Rudzinski

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This paper draws upon pilot-test data from an intersectional approach to a sexual violence prevention program on university campuses. While many programs have been created to address the sexual violence epidemic, many focus heavily on white, heterosexual, and cisgender scenarios. This research utilizes the Bringing in the Bystander® workshop, a community-based prevention initiative focused on preventing sexual violence through inspiring students to intervene in pro-social ways. In this analysis, the program maintained the same pedagogical structure, but contained a wider variety of narratives designed to include stories and scenarios about contexts relevant to the experiences of LGBTQ+ and racialized students. …

Cultivating Compassion, Amelia Baliey

Thinking Matters Symposium Archive

Fostering compassion in a divided community is essential to the well-being of its members, and creating a sense of community. Although we come from different culminations of experience, privilege, genetics, and influence and can be divided across race, gender, ethnicity, religion, nationality, sexual orientation, or class, our humanity is what connect us. After a literature review and compilation of recent scientific studies, we recognized there was much to be said and done about compassion. Ultimately, we can take a few steps in order to cultivate compassion: communicating with others, practicing empathy, finding commonalities, giving and advocating for others, to name …

Female Autistic Perspectives: Limits In Diagnosis And Understanding, Alexandra Helmers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder has increased dramatically within the last two decades, with males being diagnosed, on average, four to five times more than females. Although researchers in the medical community have searched for a biological explanation for this discrepancy, no definitive cause has been found. I argue that our understanding of autism is primarily a social and cultural construction, in addition to a diagnosable medical disorder. The gender disparity in diagnosis reflects cultural narratives surrounding social interaction and the widespread belief in two distinct gender roles. Furthermore, narratives surrounding the topic of autism tend to unintentionally highlight …

The Roles Of Race And Empathy On Contagious Yawning, Daroon M. Jalil

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

Social Psychologists often consider race to be a marker of in-group or out-group status. When looking at race, implicit bias can take forms that are more subtle than outwards racism. Two research questions were asked in this study to better understand the psychology behind racial issues. The first question was if the number of contagious yawns (CY) a person experiences depends on the race of the stimuli being viewed. Contagiously yawning more to in-group members is a phenomena seen in chimpanzees, but has not been studied in humans in a racial context. Black and white males and females were recruited …

A Case For Empathy: Immigration In Spanish Contemporary Media, Music, Film, And Novels, Constantin C. Icleanu

Theses and Dissertations--Hispanic Studies

This dissertation analyzes the representations of immigrants from North Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe in Spain. As engaged scholarship, it seeks to better the portrayal of immigrants in the mass media through the study of literature, film, and music about immigration spanning from the year 2000 to 2016. Because misconceptions continue to propagate in the media, this dissertation works to counteract anti-immigrant, xenophobic representations as well as balance out overly positive and orientalized portrayal of immigrants with a call to recognize immigrants as human beings who deserve the same respect, dignity, and rights as any other citizen.

Chapter 1 …

Redefining Murder : A Qualitative Exploration Of Emotion And Identity Following Loss Of A Loved One To Homicide, Kristen Lee Hourigan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation research project is a qualitative exploration of emotion and identity following loss of a loved one to homicide. It answers the questions, “How do individuals who have lost loved ones to homicide understand and experience forgiveness, and how does this vary by social distance from the offender and social position (race, gender, social class, age, religion, and education)?” and “How do forgiveness processes relate to identity?” It uses a symbolic interactionist framework and draws upon several diverse literatures including identity theory and affect control theory in sociology, research on forgiveness and empathy in psychology, and concepts from restorative …

Empathy In Detained Male Juvenile Offenders, Cloyce Joe Barton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Texas and across the United States, minority male juvenile offenders are overrepresented in juvenile detention facilities. Researchers have demonstrated an inverse relationship between levels of empathy and antisocial beliefs and delinquent behaviors in juveniles. Understanding this relationship is an important step in designing and implementing rehabilitative interventions for juvenile detainees. Grounded in social learning theory and the social empathy model, the current study addressed whether significant differences in empathy existed between nonminority and minority male juvenile offenders with felony and nonfelony offenses within a juvenile detention facility in rural Texas. A de-identified data set of 357 Interpersonal Reactivity Index …

A Path To Empathy: Child And Family Communication, Sarah Ann Stone

Theses and Dissertations

This longitudinal study examined the association between communication in the family on the development of empathy in young children. Co-regulation and family expressiveness measured communication in parent-child dyads at age 12 months (N = 186), 24 months (N = 100), and 36 months (N = 78). A follow-up was conducted at 60 months (N = 47) to measure empathy-related responding in children. Co-regulation styles change over time, generally increasing in the most engaged, two-way style of communication (symmetrical) and decreasing in one-sided and less engaged types. Greater family expressiveness predicted higher levels of empathy as observed in an empathy-eliciting experiment, …

Between Sites: Critical Convergences At The Personal, Interpersonal, And Institutional Levels In A Service Learning Course, Kendra Rashaun Brewster

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Set within the context of the increasing emphasis on civic engagement and transformative education, this work addresses service learning as a form of civic engagement that holds both the risks of acriticality and critical potential. This study examines the capacity for the critical consciousness and relationality that define the primary commitments of critical service learning (see Kinefuchi, 2010). Thus, this study is grounded in the ways that the circuits of privilege and dispossession were breached in a service learning course where college students travelled to mentor adolescent girls who were in a secure residential facility. The narratives of former service …

Music And Conflict Resolution: Can A Music And Story Centered Workshop Enhance Empathy?, Parfait Adegboyé Bassalé

Dissertations and Theses

The Story and Song Centered Pedagogy (SSCP) is a workshop that uses songs, stories and reflective questioning to increase empathy. This preliminary study tested the prediction that being exposed to the SSCP would increase empathy using, the Emotional Concern (EC) and Perspective Taking (PT) subscales of the renowned Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) (Davis, 1990). Subjects self-reported their answers to the IRI before and after undergoing the SSCP intervention. Comparing their pre and post intervention results, no statistically significant changes were noticed for the EC and PT scales (p-value = 0.7093 for EC; p-value = 0.6328 for PT). These results stand …

A Sociological And Statistical Analysis Of Fraternity Men's Attitudes On Rape And Sexual Assault, Cierra Ensign

Social Sciences

Hostility, aggression, and empathy levels of 488 fraternity men were measured using portions of the Burt Rape Myth Acceptance Scale, Malamuth’s Behavioral Intent to Rape Question, Hostility Toward Women Scale, and Survey Measure of Emotional Empathy. Thirteen out of the fifteen Interfraternity Council (IFC) chapters at a west coast public university campus volunteered to participate in the study. The survey consisted of thirty-five questions aimed at finding a correlation between the respondents housing location, year in school, position of office in his fraternity, and number of siblings and hostility, aggression, and empathy. Although no significant findings relating hostility, aggression, and …

Empathic Communication: Lifespan Influences And Transgressional Associations In Military Romantic Relationships, Samantha Faith Levan

Communication & Theatre Arts Theses

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences and transgressional associations of empathic communication in military romantic relationships. Through varying attachment styles, deployments, and combat experience, soldiers have a unique set of circumstances that impact the use of empathic communication in relationships. Since the effectiveness of empathic communication is also limited by unreliable communicative technologies, infidelity effects were also tested. A 66-item online survey was placed on Survey Monkey with links from social media networking websites, like Facebook and Twitter. Surveys were anonymous and only taken by soldiers who had experienced at least one deployment. The goodness of …

A Mile In My Shoes: A Prolegomenon For An Empathic Sociology, Hart J. Walker

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The main purpose of this work is to undermine the fact-value distinction as it is presented in the work of Max Weber, and also to provide an outline for an empathic sociology that can replace public sociology by shifting the focus of sociological research from the public sphere to abject material suffering. To do this I will be providing a critical explication of Weber’s methodological writings. I will also construct a notion of empathy using contemporary research in social psychology, as well as the phenomenology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty and Jean-Paul Sartre. I will then use this notion to argue that …

Ascertaining The Impact Of Relativism On Moral Reasoning, Claire B. Henderson

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research project is part on an ongoing effort in the social sciences to expand the understanding of those factors that may influence and promote moral development. Based on Lawrence Kohlberg’s developmental theory of moral reasoning, the main focus of the current study concerns the exploration of the relationship between moral reasoning and relativistic attitudes.

B-type moral reasoning is a more mature and developed form of reasoning at each of Kohlberg’s Stages 2 through 5. Hypotheses regarding the positive associations between the frequency of its use and scores on measures of relativism, equity, empathy, and open-mindedness were generated. Of the …

Relational And Social Contexts As Predictors Of Satisfaction And Stability Among Asian-White Couples, Jerevie Malig Canlas

Theses and Dissertations

Research suggests that interracial couples are more distressed and have lower stability compared to their endogamous counterparts. Interracial relationships involving Whites and Asians, however, seem to be an exception. To explore this exception, the pathways to relationship stability among endogamous and exogamous Asian-White couples were compared. Using Analysis of Covariance, partner empathy, social approval, relationship satisfaction, and relationship stability for endogamous and exogamous Asian-White couples were compared, while holding length of relationship constant. Actor and partner effects of partner empathy and social approval on relationship satisfaction and relationship stability, as well as that of relationship satisfaction on relationship stability, were …