This thesis copes with the research of empathy of deliquent youngsters-specifically their emotional and congitive part, it also evaluates the egoism or altruism of these individuals and their compassion level. The main purpose of this thesis is therefore to find out, what is the level and structure of empathy in these deliquent youngsters. The data was acquired by a specific TAT test and was evaluated according to the five subscales of SCORS ,which resemblance to empathy is proven in this work. Moreover, the content analysis of the acquired TAT protocols was carried out. The results of protocol evaluation according to SCORS system show low,yet not pathological values of emotional and cognitive empathy of youngster deliquents, additionally, they show their mainly egoistic motives across their social interactions as well as a pathological low level of compassion with others. In this thesis, the results, describing the level of cognitive and emotional empathy, are being compared to the Smith's theory (2006), which copes with the possibility of having a disorder caused by general lack of empathy in youngster deliquents. TAT protocols of respondents were also subjects of the content analysis, and its result show for example uncertainity in the external manifestation of respondents, "black and white"...

Recent empirical evidence supports the theoretical stance that fiction provides vicarious experiences of imagined spaces and situations that can help shape our perceptions of the real world, our social others, and the self. The implications for this are especially interesting for adolescents, as their brains undergo a restructuring during puberty, making them more responsive to change in executive function and social cognition. Few scholars have yet addressed how texts instruct young readers in how to use their developing cognition to assess characters' emotions and behavior, and how fiction can potentially affect these readers' cognitive and emotional development. This thesis analyzes the concept that potential adolescent readers can engage with a novel's characters' thoughts and behaviors by using their improving cognitive abilities to transmute what is on the page into real-life coping strategies. This phenomenon is especially compelling when considering the potential impact empowered female characters could have on adolescent girl readers, since their malleable brain around puberty makes them more receptive to accepting ideas - such as a person's gender not being a limitation. I examine what the primary texts themselves offer to potential readers, and analyze certain aspects of the texts that could be linked to potential readers' cognitive and affective engagement. The primary texts I have chosen are Tamora Pierce's two narrative quartets (The Song of the Lioness and Protector of the Small) that deal with characters from the fictional land of Tortall, as they focus closely on female characters in fantasy realms who are breaking gendered stereotypes by training to become knights. Pierce's books are representative of this adolescent feminist fantasy. I extrapolate that findings from this thesis will be applicable to other kinds of adolescent feminist fantasy texts; namely, that adolescent feminist fantasy fiction can beneficially change potential readers behavior and cognition.

Fear is an intrinsic human emotion, which produces with variable intensity a bodily reaction as a response to a stimuli. It is considered one of the basic human emotions, and it is universal of all animal species. Despite its subjective quality, fear has gained a rather negativistic stereotype that this research intends to debate and readdress, proposing that “negative fear” is part of an evolutionary transition cultivated by social and cultural constructs. This thesis will analyze the context in which fear operates, employing experience design methodologies and design research to reevaluate the role of fear in the contemporary settings of our societies to prove its connection to imagination, transhumanism and the production of empathy. After a brief historical perspective to situate this thesis in the contemporary framework of experience design, this research will investigate fear as prolific tool for the production of imagination, derived from its aesthetic connection to wonder and pleasure. This particular connection between fear to wonder was investigated among others by Charles Darwin, who also promoted the functionality of fear as the key to animal survival. The complex mechanism in which fear engages us will lead to the production of design prototypes that look at the animal kingdom and several other species’ talents in the detection and implementation of fear as a tool to survive. Here, the potential of our species to further evolve through the use of design will open a discussion on transhumanism and the future of humanity. The last section speculates a counterfactual conditional statement of how our humanity would operate, if emotional identities were reevaluated. In particular, the emotion of fear will be reevaluated for its unpleasant characteristics, from the bodily sensations to the mental postliminary conditions, to understand why certain human behaviors are still exercised, when the physiological effects are universally acknowledged as distasteful. By interpreting the physiological impact of fear, this research will continue its argument towards empathy, questioning what it truly means to ‘stand in someone’s else shoes’, specifically when fear is practiced. Empathy, as a pilaster in the mission statement of many contemporary disciplines, has surfaced in this research as viral phenomenon, which little has to do with truly ‘empathizing’. Here, it investigates how empathy can be experienced when fear is in play: if sharing fear as the bodily experience of someone else can lead to the production of authentic empathy, then humans have a chance to reevaluate its application in the contemporary global topics of war and diplomacy, domestic and public violence, or bullying to name a few. This research ultimately establishes a new perspective on the role of emotions in our societies, and creates a connection between design and the experience of intangibles, producing a view of the intrinsic systems of our being as ones deemed of value in the ambitious evolution of our species. / <p>The full thesis contains copyrighted material which has been removed in the published version.</p>

Šiuolaikinės visuomenės raidos procese siekiant ugdyti demokratinę, dorovingą asmenybę ir garantuoti kartų tęstinumą, aktuali empatijos ugdymo patirtis, kaip šiuolaikinėje visuomenėje ji yra suprantama, kokia yra vaikų empatijos ugdymo praktika istorinėje ir šiuolaikinėje šeimoje, kaip šiuolaikinės visuomenės kontekste dabartiniai šeimos narių kartų tarpusavio santykiai ir sąveikavimo ypatumai įtakoja atjautos ugdymą. Tyrimu siekta atskleisti vaikų empatijos ugdymo tradicijų kaitą kintant visuomenės vertybinėms nuostatoms. Išsiaiškinti, kaip vaikai, tėvai, seneliai ir mokyklų ekspertai supranta empatiją, nustatyti empatijos ugdymo praktika istorinėje ir šiuolaikinėje šeimoje. Atskleisti įvairių kartų ir šeimos narių sąveikavimo ypatumus ir jų sąsajas su empatijos ugdymu. Išanalizuoti mokyklos ekspertų požiūrį į empatijos ugdymą šeimoje ir mokykloje. Atlikus tyrimo rezultatų analizę paaiškėjo, jog atjauta suvokiama ne teoriškai, o kaip būtina veikla, kurią reikia atlikti bendruomenės nariui tam tikroje gyvenimo situacijoje, iškilus būtinybei: suteikiama savanoriška pagalba, jautrus reagavimas į kitų išgyvenimus – šeimų nariai ir ekspertai empatiją sieja su altruizmu ir pagalba. Empatiškas požiūris į įvairius aplinkos objektus ir tinkamus atjautos ugdymo būdus siejasi su žmogaus amžiaus tarpsniais, kartų ir šeimų narių tarpusavio bendravimo ypatumais. Pastebėta tendencija, jog istorinėse šeimose ir bendruomenėse puoselėtos tradicijos populiarinamos visuomenės informavimo... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This paper aimed to disclose traditions’ change of children's empathy-raising, while public values and attitudes are changing. Investigated representatives of three generations of 60 families living in Vilnius city and district and 10 experts working in city and district schools interviewed. There are analyzed understanding of empathy in our days society, practice of empathy rising in the historical and modern families, influence empathy rising of relationship and interaction features of different generations’ families members. The analysis results revealed that empathy approach to a variety of environment objects and ways and good teaching techniques of empathy-raising associated with human age groups, generations and interaction features of family members. Children and both groups of adults’ empathy commonly associate with condolence. Different age groups express empathy to different objects and prefer different empathy rising teaching techniques. Generally analogous empathy rising teaching techniques used in historical and modern families, but the context is adapted to modern society. Relationship and interaction of three generations family members are not discontinuous and allow transferring of existing traditions.

L'empathie est au cœur de nos relations sociales : elle permet leur régulation par les émotions. Des études, aux résultats contradictoires, ont ainsi suggéré qu'un déficit d'empathie chez les auteurs d'agression sexuelle était un élément central dans leur évaluation et leur traitement.Nous avions 2 objectifs pour cette thèse :1) valider en français, dans une population adulte, une échelle d'empathie générale, la Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006) ainsi qu'un inventaire des compétences socio-émotionnelles, le Social Skills Inventory (Riggio, 1989, 2002) ;2) approfondir la connaissance des liens existant entre empathie générale, empathie spécifique, distorsions cognitives, compétences sociales et risque de récidive chez des auteurs d'agression sexuelle.136 adultes issus de la population générale (78 femmes et 58 hommes) ont rempli les auto-questionnaires répartis en 2 passations séparées de 7 semaines. 37 détenus (20 auteurs d'agression sexuelle sur enfant, 6 auteurs d'agression sexuelle sur adulte, 6 auteurs d'agression non-sexuelle, 5 non-agresseur) ont participé à des entretiens et questionnaires sur plusieurs semaines.La Basic Empathy Scale et le Social Skills Inventory présentent des qualités psychométriques assez satisfaisantes. Chez les détenus, les liens empathie générale/empathie spécifique/distorsions cognitives différent selon le type de victime, avec des distorsions cognitives plus ou moins généralisées en conséquence. La régulation des émotions apparaît essentielle dans le processus empathique. Enfin, les mesures statiques du risque de récidive ne sont pas liées à l'empathie générale, à l'empathie spécifique et aux distorsions cognitives. Des profils socio-cognitivo-émotionnels ont été proposés à titre exploratoire et nécessiteraient d'être à nouveau investigués dans de futures recherches.Ainsi, notre thèse ouvre la voie à des travaux de recherche novateurs dans le domaine, à l'aide d'outils encore peu utilisés et qui pourraient être améliorés afin d'affiner les profils socio-cognitivo émotionnels des AAS déjà établis et de pouvoir proposer des prises en charge adaptées à chacun des profils rencontrés. / Empathy is fundamental in our social relations: it allows their regulation by emotions. Studies, with conflicting results, have suggested that a lack of empathy among sex offenders was a central element in their evaluation and treatment.We had two objectives for this thesis:1) to validate in French, in an adult population, a general empathy scale, the Basic Empathy Scale (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2006) and an inventory of socio-emotional skills, the Social Skills Inventory (Riggio, 1989, 2002);2) to increase knowledge on the relationship between general empathy, specific empathy, cognitive distortions, social skills and recidivism among sex offenders.136 adults from a general population (78 women and 58 men) completed the self-report questionnaires divided into two sessions, separated by seven weeks. 37 inmates prison (20 child molesters, six rapists, six authors of non-sexual assault, and five non-aggressors) were interviewed and completed questionnaires over several weeks.The Basic Empathy Scale and the Social Skills Inventory have quite good psychometric qualities. Among inmates prison, links between general empathy, specific empathy, and cognitive distortions depend on the type of victim, with cognitive distortions more or less generalized accordingly. Emotion regulation is essential in the empathic process. Finally, static measures of recidivism are not correlated to general empathy, specific empathy or cognitive distortions. We also proposed exploratory profiles socio-cognitive-emotional but they require to be re-examined in future research.Thus, our thesis opens the way for innovative research in this field, using scales not yet widely used and that could be improved in order to refine the socio-cognitive-emotional profiles of the sex offenders already established and to offer of support adapted to each of the profiles encountered.

D’Esope, acteur romain, à Heath Ledger, star hollywoodienne, de nombreuses sources rapportent des cas d’acteurs « possédés » par leur personnage de méchant. Mythes sans fondement ? Elucubrations de spectateurs en quête de frissons, voire stratégie commerciale ? Peut-être, mais là n’est pas l’essentiel : qu’elles soient véritables ou fantasmées, le nombre et la constance de ces anecdotes au fil de l’histoire en montrent bien l’importance. Notre imaginaire de spectateur semble nourri de ces dérapages fantasmés, de ces histoires d’acteurs s’étant, selon l’expression consacrée, « perdus dans leur rôle » - parfois jusqu’à en mourir.Après s’être intéressé brièvement à certaines de ces anecdotes, à ce qu'elles révèlent de notre rapport à la scène, ce travail propose un renversement de perspective : il s’agit d’interroger la possibilité d’un risque de confusion entre acteur et personnage, non plus à travers le prisme du regard porté sur le comédien, mais en s’intéressant au vécu des acteurs eux-mêmes – en tentant de se dégager des projections fantasmatiques pour essayer de comprendre ce qui se passe, réellement, « dans la tête d’un comédien » devant incarner un personnage méchant. A cette fin, nous nous intéresserons au travail de l’acteur dans ce qu'il a de plus concret, de plus anodin en apparence, du maquillage au cœur qui bat, des douleurs de genoux aux bouffées de plaisir, des rituels d’avant-spectacle aux rires ou aux larmes d’après-spectacle, des tensions à la complicité entre partenaires. Nous plongerons pour cela dans le quotidien des acteurs du Théâtre du Soleil, à travers une vaste étude de terrain mêlant observations de répétitions et entretiens. / From Aesop, the Roman actor, to Heath Ledger, the Hollywood star, numerous sources report instances of actors “possessed” by the evil part they are playing. Groundless myth, wild speculation on the part of spectators in search of thrills, or even marketing strategy? Perhaps, but that is not what matters most: whether real or fantasized, the number and the consistency of these stories throughout history bear evidence of their importance. Our imagination as a spectator seems to feed on these fantasized slips, on these stories of actors who, as the saying goes, lost themselves in acting and sometimes even died from it. After paying brief attention to some of these stories and to what they reveal about our relationship to the stage, a reversal of perspective is proposed : the risk of confusion between the actor and the character he is playing is no longer investigated through the lens of one’s perception of the actor but through paying close attention to the personal experiences of the actors themselves – we try to evade fantasies by attempting to understand what is really occurring in the actors’ mind when playing an evil character- To this end, we analyze the actor’s work in its most concrete and seemingly most innocuous aspects, from making up to the beating heart, from knee pain to flashes of pleasure, from the rituals before going on stage to laughter and tears shed once the performance is over, from tension to complicity with the partnering actors. We slip into the everyday life of the Théâtre du Soleil company by means of a wide field study which combines observation of rehearsals and actors’ statements of their own experience.

This research assesses the impact of a violence prevention training, Total Honesty/Total Heart, based on the Nonviolent Communication model (Rosenberg, 2003) for conflict resolution and empathy development (including self-empathy). This study offers a strategic response to adolescent aggressive/violent behaviour. The participants, aged 16-19, were all experiencing the stresses of poverty and marginalization at the time of the study, and were familiar with both domestic and peer violence. Some had received criminal charges, some were raising children, and all were struggling to complete high school. The research methodology is located within the traditions of educational research and program evaluation. Subsequently, this project combines a simple quasi-experimental pre-training and post-training written test (providing descriptive statistics) with qualitative data gathered through training sessions and interviews. A case illustration is included to further enhance the findings. This approach allowed a rich multi-dimensional analysis to be generated for such a small pilot project (N=14). The test results showed a notable increase in skills comprehension and applications for the participant group, while the comparison group showed no increases. The participant group interviews revealed that the training had been engaging, and that the skills were practically applicable as well as meaningful. The case illustration revealed the transformative impact of integrating the Nonviolent Communication conflict resolution, empathy, and self-empathy skills into one participant’s life. In particular, this thesis suggests that self-empathy may be integral to supporting the development of conflict resolution skills specifically, and healthy relationships generally, for young women who have experienced abuse, trauma, and domestic violence.

The subject of this thesis is the teacher's and the pupils' skill of empathy and its connection to the effectiveness of the learning process. In the theoretical part of the thesis the author defines empathy and states the issue of its definition. The author also focuses on the topic of development of empathy and how it is connected to the safe classroom environment. Also, the factors that influence the level of empathy within a person are explained. The thesis describes the role of empathy in the communication of a teacher and the pupils and how communication blocks obstruct expressions of empathy. The influence of empathy in the educational process is described on areas where emotions of the pupils play a key role. The thesis describes the possibilities of the teacher's development of empathy as well as practices that allow this development with the students of first five grades in elementary school. The aim of the empirical part is to find out how the future teachers view empathy. The research is aimed at finding out how students of education define empathy, whether they think it can be cultivated, whether teachers can influence the level of empathy of their students and if so, how. The second aim of the empirical part is to create and teach a lecture that would bring a deeper understanding of...

Considerable psycho-physiological research on empathy examines biological structures such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA-axis) and oxytocin systems as efficacious methods for strengthening positive emotional responses. This study recruited 76 adult participants (54 female, 23 male) for the purpose of evaluating the effects oxytocin and fiction reading have on empathetic responses. Participants completed a measure of trauma and received either intranasal oxytocin, a story created to induce emotional responses, or a neutral non-fiction story. Stressors were counterbalanced as a family or non-family stimuli to assess changes in stress response measured by salivary cortisol and heart rate variability. Results supported existing research stating that heart rate variability (HRV) is a more sensitive measure of stress. HRV statistically significantly interacted between type of stressor and PTSD symptomology (1, 70) = 5.018, p = .028, η2 =0.06. Scores on the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) indicated there were increases in empathy across time, but were not impacted by exposure to stress or treatment condition. Trauma was identified as a statistically significant factor on heart rate variability F(1, 70) = 8.39, p = .005, η2 = .10. Treatment condition did not impact cortisol levels across time F(2, 71) = .2.532, p = .087, η2 = .11. Taken together, these results suggest support for the use of biomarkers in measuring the rate of stress and recovery for those with and without trauma. These findings suggest potential avenues for translational research and implications for theory and practice.

Intergenerational relationships refer to relationships between people in alternate generational groups. The increasing numbers of older people all over the world highlight the need for studies on psychological processes that enhance well-being through intergenerational relationships. People from different generations are co-dependent for care and support. Older people constitute a diverse group: some may experience a depletion of energy, physical, financial and emotional resources, while others have good health, financial security and stable social support networks. What all people, including older people, have in common, however, is a need for meaningful relationships. This makes it worthwhile to explore the experiences of relationships with younger people from the perspective of older people. This study is important because research indicates that the relationships between older people (60 years and older) and adolescents and young adults are strained. An initial study on intergenerational care experiences from the perspective of people aged 60 years and older and young people in the middle-adolescent developmental phase (at 16 years) revealed a lack of empathy from the older generation towards the younger generation. It was decided to focus in this study on intergenerational empathy specifically. Mutual empathetic understanding is suggested as a means to overcome challenges between members of generations that have to compete for limited resources, especially in low-resource areas such as the specific rural African community studied in Vaalharts, South Africa. It is suggested that empathy could increase intergenerational understanding between older and younger people dealing with their respective developmental challenges. The research was conducted in a community with high levels of poverty and limited physical and material resources. The study is qualitative in nature and used an interpretive descriptive research design. This design provided the basis to explore the perceptions of empathy by using theoretical constructs to derive at an understanding of experiences in the community and specifically those of the older generation. The 18 participants were all older than 60 and Setswana speaking but were also proficient in Afrikaans and English. Eight of the participants (1 man and 7 women) participated in study using the Mmogo-method®. This is a projective technique that uses visual presentations to gain a deeper insight into meaning that is developed between the participants. For the Mmogo-method®, participants (older people) were invited to make visual representations of how they experienced care in relation to young people in the middle adolescent developmental phase, at around 16 years. A further 10 participants (4 men and 6 woman), who were not part of the Mmogo-method® project, participated in semi-structured interviews. These interviews provided them the freedom to elaborate on their own unique experiences. Semi- structured interviews also provide a certain amount of structure for the interviewer to make sure that detailed information on empathy in arising relevant conversations are obtained. Data were analysed using an inductive approach as well as thematic analysis of experiences about intergenerational care: empathy (and specifically, a lack of empathy) emerged as a recurrent theme. The literature shows a connection between empathy and care, which accordingly served as the focus of this study. The data were further subjected to a directed form of content analysis (deductive category application) which was conducted after literature and theory on intergenerational empathy have been consulted. A visual analysis was conducted on the visual presentations that the participants built as part of the Mmogo- method®. Trustworthiness was ensured by using the principles proposed by Guba’s model of trustworthiness and that include: obtaining thick descriptions, ensuring credibility, member checking and ensuring confirmabillity. Ethical consent to conduct this study was given by the Human Research Ethics committee of the Faculty of Health Sciences in the North-West University (reference number NWU-00053-10-S1). A gatekeeper was used to gain access to the community studied and participants gave their informed consent. The lack of empathy from the perspective or the older people emerged from the way in which older people viewed the relationship with the young solely from their own perspective and from their inability to place themselves in the position of the younger persons. Older people were at first unable to visualize the young in their caring relationships; they expressed negative and judgemental attitudes towards them and perceived that the young people are rejecting the wisdom of their elders. Older people resorted to outsiders to assist in communicating with and disciplining the young. The lack of empathy on the part of the older people for the young can have dire effects on their vital intergenerational relationships. It is recommended that community-based interventions be developed to promote empathy between the two generations. / MA (Research Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015