Art provides the possibility of specific and multilateral influences on the personality development of preschool children. This work aims to instruct, through creative development techniques, ways to achieve the pre-defined pages of childrens' personalities in kindergarten during one school year. There have been positive changes in cognitive and emotional levels concerning the development of social relations, and also the deepening sense of personal feelings and ability to express both verbal and artistic creation.

Die vorliegende Dissertation beschäftigte sich theoretisch und empirisch mit moralischer Sensitivität, der Fähigkeit zu erkennen, ob Handlungen das Wohlergehen anderer Lebewesen beeinflussen. Im Theorieteil wurden dazu die einschlägigen theoretischen Ansätze gesichtet und in einer neuen integrativen Definition verdichtet. Aus der theoretischen Aufarbeitung der Konzepte und bisherigen empirischen Befunde folgte, dass verschiedene Persönlichkeitsmerkmale existieren, die maßgeblich determinieren, ob und wie stark ein Individuum moralisch sensitiv ist. Zu diesen Determinanten moralischer Sensitivität gehören folgende Persönlichkeitsmerkmale: Empathie, moralische Achtsamkeit, moralische Identität und Ungerechtigkeitssensibilität. Im empirischen Teil der Arbeit wurden die Zusammenhänge dieser Persönlichkeitsmerkmale mit moralischem Entscheiden und Handeln untersucht, sowie verschiedene studienspezifische Hypothesen und Fragestellungen beleuchtet. Einzelne Aspekte der empirischen Arbeit wurden schließlich in einer interkulturellen Studie auf ihre kulturübergreifende Generalisierbarkeit geprüft. Die Dissertationsschrift schließt mit einer umfassenden Diskussion der empirischen Ergebnisse und gibt praktische Handlungsempfehlungen. Unternehmen und andere Organisationen können die in der vorliegenden Dissertation gewonnenen Erkenntnisse nutzen, um ihr Human Ressource Management hinsichtlich der Auswahl und Förderung ethisch-kompetenter Fach- und Führungskräfte zu optimieren. / The present dissertation theoretically and empirically investigated the concept of moral sensitivity – the ability to recognize whether actions influence the well-being of other living beings. In the theoretical part, the relevant theoretical approaches were reviewed and condensed in a new integrative definition. The review of the theoretical accounts of moral sensitivity and the empirical findings revealed that various personality traits exist that decisively determine whether and how strongly an individual is morally sensitive. These determinants of moral sensitivity include the following personality traits: empathy, moral attentiveness, moral identity, and justice sensitivity. In the empirical part of the work, the relationships of these personality traits with moral decision-making and action and various study-specific hypotheses were examined. The cross-cultural generalizability of some empirical findings of the dissertation was finally examined in an intercultural study. The dissertation concludes with a comprehensive discussion of the empirical results and gives practical recommendations for organizations. Companies and other organizations can use the knowledge gained in this dissertation to optimize their human resource management in terms of selection and promotion of ethical competent employees.

Empati är en viktig del av bemötande inom människovårdande yrken som tandvård och vård. Det finns teorier om att stress påverkar empati negativt genom att det bland annat leder till håglöshet och ökad cynism samt att återhämtning kan minska stress vilket indirekt kan påverka empatisk förmåga i bemötandet i positiv riktning.  Syftet med studien var att utforska om det fanns skillnader i självskattad empati, stress och återhämtning bland personer med olika lång yrkeserfarenhet, utbildning och utbildningsnivå. Utöver detta testades också om det fanns samvariationer mellan självskattningarna i empati, stress och återhämtning. Dessutom gjordes försök att mäta bemötande med hjälp av fiktiva fallexempel från vård och tandvård. Försöksdeltagare i studien utgjordes av 40 personer, till yrket undersköterskor, sjuksköterskor, blivande specialistsjuksköterskor och blivande tandhygienister. Pearsons korrelationsanalyser har använts för att beräkna korrelationer och envägs variansanalyser, ANOVA, för att beräkna skillnader mellan grupper.  I föreliggande studies resultat förefaller det som om yngre personer med mindre yrkeserfarenhet är mer stressande och mer empatiska medan äldre personer med fler arbetade år är mindre stressade och mindre empatiska medan utbildningstyp och utbildningsnivå inte verkar spela någon som helst roll.  Frågorna innehållande fiktiva fall konstateras behöva ytterligare utveckling. Inga som helst signifikanta skillnader avseende olik grupptillhörighet som yrke; blivande specialistsjuksköterskor, blivande tandhygienister, undersköterskor; eller utbildningsnivå; gymnasienivå, kandidatexamensnivå, magisterexamen eller högre kunde ses i studien. Studien inspirerar till fortsatt forskning inom området bemötande och empatisk autencitet. / Empathy is an important issue in people-oriented work such as dental care and care. There are theories that stress affects empathy in a negative way by causing lethargy and cynicism and that recovery can reduce the stress which indirectly could affect the ability to give empathic treatment which means treat other persons well when working with people.  The purpose of this study was to see if there were differences in self-reported empathy, stress and recovery among persons with different length of professional experience, type of education and educational level. In addition, correlations between self-reports of empathy, stress and recovery were tested. Also tests to measure empathic treatment among fictive cases both from health care and dental care situations were done. There were 40 participants in the study, which worked as assistant nurses or nurses or were under education for nursing specialists or dental hygienists.  Pearson’s correlation analysis and one way analysis of variance, ANOVA, were used for the statistical analysis.  In this study it seemed like younger persons with fewer years of experience were both more stressed and more empathic than older persons with longer experience which seem to be less stressed but also less empathic, while education type or level seemed to not matter. The fictive cases should be developed more. No differences between educational groups at different levels were found in this study, nor could any differences be seen among different professions. This study could inspire further research in the field of empathic treatment and authenticity.

Orientador: Karina Pavão Patrício / Resumo: Introdução. O curso de graduação em medicina expõe os seus alunos a estresse significativo, o que pode gerar alterações nos componentes do sistema inflamatório, além de consequências negativas no aprendizado, na motivação e no contato com os pacientes. Objetivo. Investigar o efeito do programa de Redução de Estresse e Desenvolvimento da Empatia na Medicina (REDEMED©) na percepção do estresse, empatia e nos níveis dos marcadores inflamatórios em estudantes de medicina. Metodologia. Trata-se de um estudo quase experimental, cuja amostra foi composta por um grupo ativo, de estudantes de medicina do primeiro ao sexto ano, que realizou oito aulas semanais de duas horas de técnicas de meditação e exercícios de vivências interpessoais, e outro grupo controle que não realizou essas atividades. Ambos os grupos, antes e após o curso, responderam aos questionários de escala de estresse percebido (PSS) e escala Jefferson de empatia médica (JSPE), e coletaram sangue para análise da proteína C reativa (PCR), fator de necrose tumoral- alfa (TNF-alfa), interleucina-6 (IL-6) e interleucina-10 (IL-10). A comparação entre os grupos em relação aos potenciais confundidores foi feita pelos testes Qui-quadrado, Exato de Fisher e Mann-Whitney, seguido da comparação entre grupos em relação às evoluções por Mann-Whitney. As comparações foram estatisticamente significativas se p<0,05. Resultados. O grupo ativo demonstrou melhora significativa na percepção do estresse (p<0,001) e aumento da empatia (p< ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Introduction. The undergraduate course in medicine exposes its students to significant stress, which may generate changes in some components of the inflammatory system, as well as negative consequences on learning, motivation and contact with patients. Objectives. To investigate the effect of a Stress Reduction and Empowerment in Medicine (REDEMED ©) program on the perception of stress, empathy and levels of inflammatory markers in medical students. Methodology. It is a quasi-experimental study whose sample consisted of an active group of medical students from the first to the sixth year who performed eight weekly classes of two hours of meditation techniques and exercises of interpersonal experiences, and another control group who did not perform these activities. Both groups, before and after the course, responded to the perceived stress scale (PSS) and Jefferson scale of medical empathy (JSPE) and collected blood for analysis of C-reactive protein, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-10 (IL-10). Comparison between groups in relation to potential confounders was performed using the Chi-square, Fisher's Exact and Mann-Whitney tests, followed by the comparison between groups in relation to the Mann-Whitney evolution. The comparisons were statistically significant if p <0.05. Results. The active group demonstrated significant improvement in the perception of stress (p< 0.000) and increased empathy (p< 0.000). There was an increase sig... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Unresolved global problems, such as extreme poverty, ask for a better understanding of what predicts altruism and what does not. The aim of this thesis project was to address this topical and timely research question by studying the predictive role of compassion and empathy in understanding altruism. In past research on the relationship between altruism and empathy, distinct empathic processes (Perspective taking, Empathic concern, Personal distress, Emotional contagion, and Behavioral contagion) have been often lumped together and the context dependency of the relationship has been insufficiently taken into account, resulting in confusion and contradictory findings. Compassion overcomes these issues. The present web-based survey with previous or current university students (age 18-45; N=240) aimed to clarify relationships between components of empathy, compassion, and altruism. It was hypothesized that (1) compassion would predict altruism beyond all components of empathy; (2) Empathic concern would mediate the relationship between Perspective taking and altruism; (3) compassion would mediate the relationship between Empathic concern and altruism, and (4) higher levels of compassion would result in a reduced negative relationship between Personal distress and altruism. The results supported all hypotheses except for the final one. These findings are discussed in context of previous research and theory, considering the current study limitations and with focus on theoretical and practical implications. In sum, the findings suggest that efforts to motivate altruism should focus on invoking positive emotions of warmth, concern, and relatability. Care should be taken to avoid unnecessary Personal distress when invoking altruism, as this reduces its likelihood.

Empati är en särskilt viktig förmåga hos kriminalvårdaren och i interaktionen med kollegor samt med intagna på anstalt och häkte. Studien ämnade att undersöka kriminalvårdarnas empati i relation till arbetsrelaterad stress, samt olika demografiska variabler. I undersök- ningen deltog 76 kriminalvårdare som rekryterades via sociala medier, utspridda över Sve- rige. Resultaten visar att det inte fanns några könsskillnader gällande empati. Den arbetsre- laterade stressen är större hos kvinnor än hos män enligt studiens resultat, något som be- kräftar tidigare studier. Vidare visar studiens resultat att fantasi och personlig oro minskade med åldern. För anställningstid visar studiens resultat att empatin minskar med antal anställ- ningsår. Resultaten för utbildningsnivå visar att empatin minskade med högre utbildning, vil- ket motsäger tidigare forskning. Vidare forskning kan fokusera på att inkludera större urval och att undersöka personspecifika faktorer i studiet av relationen mellan empati, stress och demografisk information som ålder, kön och utbildningsnivå. / Empathy is a particularly important ability of the correctional officer and in the interaction with their colleagues, also with those in prison and detention centers. The study aimed to investi- gate empathy in prison correctional officers in relation to work-related stress and demo- graphic variables. In the study,76 participants were recruited through social media, with a spread across Sweden. The results showed that there were no difference in empathy re- garding gender. The work-related stress is greater in women than in men according to the study's results, which confirms previous studies. Furthermore, the results of the study show that imagination and personal distress decline with age. For years of employment the results showed a decline in empathy. The results for educational level shows that empathy declined with higher education, which contradicts previous research. Further research can focus on including larger samples and examining person-specific factors along with the variables and demographic information such as age, gender and educational level.

In this research I examine, mainly focusing on representation in storytelling, how certain aspects of a persons identity in relation to the social environment gives us different modes of discrimination and privileges. I have interviewed individuals around Sweden, during 2020 to 2022, between the age span of 4 to 80 years old concerning societal and familial upbringing. I choose to focus on upbringing since how we reflect about what has shaped us tells a lot about a person and the society. What struck me during the research and the interviews is that we live at the same time, at different places, with different identities, resources and capacities giving us different experiences and views of the world. With vastly different lives: what makes us able to relate to each other? Is it our ability to feel? To feel joy, irritation or loneliness. That no matter how one's life is we all have feelings, that perhaps gives us a chance to recognize, mirror and to empathize with each other? The project resulted in six textile sculptures and eighteen photos of the textile sculptured fictional characters each photographed in their own everyday life, in “their own reality”, in different places around Sweden. The sculptures, their individual jobs, studies, unemployment and places are inspired by the interviews and the research.

Emotion, as well as cognition, are often understood as a manifestation of brain activity. However, bodily processes are also involved in mental functioning, referring to the concept of embodiment. Embodied emotion, traditionally, implies that experiencing an emotion involves perceptual, somato-visceral, and motor aspects. Within the frame of the Research Training Group “Situated Cognition”, we here extend the concept of embodiment by considering the role of hormones in the processing of emotional content. Importantly, hormones allow a bidirectional body-to-brain and brain-to-body coupling. The endocrine system, e.g., steroid sex hormones, produced in the gonads, send feedback to the brain by binding at their receptors. These receptors are relatively abundant in the brain regions associated with emotional processing, memory, and executive functions (i.e., amygdala, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex). Moreover, peripheral hormone secretion is modulated via actions from the central nervous system. We intended to characterize the role of sex hormones, and partly also of stress hormones, on different components of emotion as a hormonal embodiment of emotion. Thus, we examined emotional processing in different sex hormone-status groups. To account for different levels of sex hormones, we used a quasi-experimental approach by comparing women in different cycle phases, women using hormonal oral contraceptives (Study 1), and additionally men (in Study 2). The female menstrual cycle is characterized by fluctuating sex hormone levels. On the peripheral gonadal level, these are 17β-estradiol and progesterone. These hormones are low at the beginning of the cycle (early follicular phase). Estradiol rises towards the middle of the cycle (mid-cycle) and stays moderately high until the next cycle. Progesterone levels are high after mid-cycle in the luteal phase until the end of the cycle. Hormonal contraceptives suppress the endogenous production of estradiol and progesterone, keeping the hormone levels low during the whole cycle. Estradiol and progesterone are also present in males, however, at low levels with no sign of cyclical fluctuations. In Study 1, we examined three independent groups of women in the mid-cycle (n = 24), in the luteal phase (n = 24), and women using hormonal oral contraceptives (n = 24). We assessed different measures of emotional processing, i. e. emotional memory, cognitive and affective empathy-related measures (emotion recognition and ratings for feeling with a protagonist´s emotion, respectively), as well as mimic and skin-conductance responses to affective stimuli. Additionally, we addressed interactions of experimental stress (cold pressor test vs. control) with sex hormones in emotional memory. Our data demonstrated the role of hormones in empathy-related measures and skin-conductance responses depending on the stimulus characteristics (valence, the gender of the protagonist). Emotional memory was not affected by hormone status, stressor or salivary hormone levels. In the cognitive empathy-related measure, women in the luteal phase, as well as oral contraceptive users, identified emotions depicted by female protagonists more accurately than those by male protagonists. On the other hand, estradiol correlated positively with recognition of emotions depicted by males in the total sample. In the affective empathy-related measure, oral contraceptive users rated negative emotions higher than the positive ones. Finally, in the luteal phase skin-conductance responses to negative stimuli were heightened, also supported by a positive correlation with the salivary progesterone levels. The mimic responses remained unaffected. None of the remaining associations with the salivary hormone levels were significant. These results indicate that sex hormones modulated emotional processing by interacting with the stimulus features, as evident in the negativity bias under oral contraceptive use and in the luteal phase in the affective empathy-related measure and sympathetic autonomous reactivity, respectively. However, emotional memory and mimic activity to affective stimuli were not affected. In Study 2, we extended the initial scope to examine the role of sex hormones and olfaction in empathy-related measures. Reports of female advantage in empathy-related measures suggest a role for sex hormones, although data are inconsistent. Studies also report similar sex differences in human olfactory perception. In rodents, olfaction is involved in detecting and integrating socially-relevant information and is modulated by the brain-actions of estrogens. Based on this background, we hypothesized that olfaction may untangle the mixed evidence regarding the relationship between sex hormones and empathy-related measures (cognitive, affective). Thus, we measured odor discrimination ability, empathy-related measures, and facial mimic activity (also associated with affective empathy-related measures) in free-cycling women in high sex-hormone phases (n = 20), oral contraceptive users (n = 19), and men (n = 21). Free-cycling women outperformed only men in the recognition of emotions depicted from the eye region. Oral contraceptive users showed higher scores in the affective empathy-related measure towards negative emotions. Free-cycling women exhibited the strongest facial mimicry (viewing female, but not male protagonists), positively associated with progesterone. Finally, the groups differed in odor discrimination, with free-cycling women outperforming men. However, odor discrimination ability and empathy-related performance were not correlated. Our results support the role of sex hormones in odor perception and empathy-related measures, to a certain extent. However, no common underlying mechanism was found. Finally, we conducted a systematic review (Study 3) aiming to elucidate factors contributing to the inconsistent results concerning the role of sex hormones in the two most addressed areas of emotional processing, emotion recognition (empathy-related measure) and emotional memory. Thereby, we extended previous reviews that address single areas of emotion processing. Moreover, we systematically addressed the role of situational features (mainly emotion-type and/or stimulus valence). All studies included healthy women of reproductive age either in stages of their natural menstrual cycle or using oral contraceptives, and measured or at least estimated levels of ovarian sex hormones. We document the methodological diversity in the field, presumably contributing to the heterogeneity of results. We recognized the need for studies explicitly contrasting the early follicular, mid-cycle, and mid-luteal phases, as well as OC-intake and using standardized tasks. Research would take advantage of using within-subject design more frequently and account for the recognition of complex emotions. In sum, our data suggest that sex hormones differentially modulate the cognitive and affective empathy-related performance and skin-conductance responses by interacting with situational variables, such as the emotional valence of the stimuli and the gender of the protagonist. Women in the luteal phase and under oral contraceptive use demonstrated better recognition of emotions depicted by female protagonists. By contrast, estradiol levels positively correlated with the recognition of emotions depicted by male protagonists. Sex-hormone status main effects only manifested in the emotion recognition advantage of free-cycling women over men (Reading the Mind in The Eyes Test; Study 2). In both studies, affective empathy ratings towards negative emotions were higher in the oral contraceptive users. Moreover, although mimic activity was not associated with sex hormones, skin-conductance responses to negative stimuli were heightened in the luteal phase. On the other hand, the performance in empathy-related measures in different hormone-status groups was not related to odor discrimination ability. Additionally, the inconsistencies of the sex hormone and emotion research could be the result of variations of designs and tasks used across studies from a similar field. This is also indicated in our findings from the empathy-related measures differing in tasks and hormone-status groups in two studies. Finally, our findings provide evidence that emotional processes under sex-hormone modulation are situated, i.e., subject to the influence of the stimulus valence. Furthermore, they are embodied via coupling between the endocrine system and the brain as evident in hormone status and valence interactions in empathy-related measures and sympathetic reactivity.

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