The research focuses on young people excluded from school, and those identified as being at risk of exclusion. It assesses their skills in communication, empathy / perspective taking, and incorporates information from staff at their schools relating to their perceptions of the participants’ communication skills and their risk of exclusion. This data, along with interviews with a smaller sample of the young people who have experienced permanent exclusion, is used to discuss implications for policy and intervention with regard to supporting pupils with language difficulties. The research is set out in two papers. Paper One describes the findings from an assessment of communication skill and empathy / perspective taking. Paper Two uses the findings from Paper One to compare the participants’ skills with the perceptions of their teachers regarding their communication ability and risk of exclusion, and also describes the findings from interviews with a selection of the participants. The research demonstrated significant communication difficulties in the sample groups. This has implications for their prospects, as the literature review highlights the difficulties that young people can experience if their language difficulties are not addressed. The questionnaire completed by staff showed that although many staff were aware of the pupils’ language difficulties, they often underestimated the extent of these difficulties.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between a measurement of empathy and performance of psychiatric student nurses.

Includes a sample questionnaire in pocket.

Empathy induced altruism is considered as the motivation of human cooperation, one of the most prominent pro-social behaviours in society. To explore the empathy-cooperation link, this thesis presents a series of empirical studies designed to uncover how reliable this association is. Specifically, the introductory chapters present an evidence-based systematic review and discussion of current theories, which take a critical view of the methodological approaches and provide the context and theoretical motivations for the empirical work of the thesis. The empirical chapters present four studies conducted in the laboratory to evaluate empathy-cooperation association, as well as other potential mediating factors via Public Goods Game (PGG) reflecting collective action in society (total approx. 540 participants). Study 1 was a replication of a highly cited finding that has been often used to support theoretical claims regarding the positive empathy-cooperation link, which in the present case was not found when examined using the PGG set up. Study 2 further explored the empathy-cooperation link alongside the impact of personal values as an information signal to support cooperative behaviour, to this end, shared social values predicted cooperative behaviour above and beyond empathy. Study 3 examined the extent to which empathy could be used to support cooperation in heterogeneous group settings by manipulating the distribution of endowments and the origin of endowments; again empathy had a limited effect on levels of cooperation. Study 4 was a replication of Study 3, but using a 2-player PGG, leading to differences between the patterns of results from the previous experiment. The concluding section considers the implications of the findings for current theories that build on the empathy-cooperation link. Overall the experimental findings do not support the statement that empathy induction is an effective way of promoting cooperation in PGG when financial incentives are involved. This enriches the understanding of empathy-cooperation.

Typescript (photocopy). / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Along with academically focused benefits such as vocabulary and literacy, fiction reading has social-emotional benefits. Readers of fiction can identify with characters, and be transported into the fictional world, to differing degrees. Fiction, specifically, can help foster empathy. It has been well established that lifelong fiction readers have higher levels of cognitive empathy than those who have had limited experience with fiction. This relationship between transportation and empathy is well-researched, but the effect of identification on transportation and empathy is less well-defined. The relationship between identification with characters and transportation has mixed findings, and has been studied mostly with films. The current study focuses on the relationship between identification and cognitive empathy, with transportation as a possible mediator. Participants (n=148, age 18-60) read the story The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant, with explicit directions: either to read as if they were the main character (high identification), or read objectively (low identification). Participants then rated their identification (as a manipulation check) and transportation using self-report scales. Cognitive empathy was measured by the reading the Mind in the Eyes test, where participants saw a picture of eyes, and selected which emotion was being expressed. Results showed no difference between groups, indicating a failed manipulation. Further tests showed no significant correlation between condition and transportation; or condition and cognitive empathy; or transportation in cognitive empathy. There was also no significant regression equation. Future research is needed to understand the underlying mechanisms, and more potential benefits of fiction.

Recently Sandra Bem, a psychologist at Stanford University has written about the importance of developing a conception of mental health which is free from culturally imposed definitions of masculinity and femininity. She believes that defining certain behaviors as appropriate only for women and other behaviors as only appropriate for men is restricting and debilitating for both sexes. This sex-typing of behaviors has led to masculinity being associated with assertiveness and dominance, pragmatism, problem solving and task orientation, and a concern for one's individuality, whereas femininity is associated with emotional sensitivity and concern for the welfare of others, the seeking of harmony between oneself and others, and passivity. This study looks at the relationships between masculinity, femininity, anxiety and empathy. Specifically of concern is whether “Androgyny”, a new sex role, seems to be less debilitating and restricting than the traditional “Masculine” and “Feminine” roles as measured by anxiety and empathy scores. The sex role categories of Bem which are used in this study are derived from the Bem Sex Role Inventory. The categories are: 1) “Masculine" referring to someone scoring high in masculinity and low in femininity, 2) “Feminine” referring to someone scoring high in femininity and low in masculinity, 3) “Androgynous” referring to someone scoring high in both masculinity and femininity, and 4) “Undifferentiated” referring to someone scoring low in both masculinity and femininity. All the masculine-feminine (M-F) scales referred to in the following studies give measures corresponding to Bem's categories of “Feminine” and “Masculine”. In traditional M-F scales scoring high in femininity is equivalent to a “Feminine” sex role and scoring high in masculinity is equivalent to a "Masculine" sex role. The reason for this is that traditional M-F scales are structured so that masculinity and femininity are opposite poles on the same dimension and therefore as one moves toward greater femininity one also moves away from masculinity and vice versa. Bem’s inventory, however, is constructed so that masculinity and femininity are orthogonal dimensions. This allows for the development of two other possible sex roles: “Androgynous” and “Undifferentiated”. No predictions will be made about the latter category.

Individuals who report better relationships with their mental health providers have better treatment outcomes. One element of the relationship is therapist empathy, or the therapist's ability to see the world from the client's point-of-view. Researchers have struggled to define, measure, and teach empathy. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether instruction in character analysis techniques, such as those used by actors, had an effect on cognitive empathy. A convenience sample of 20 adults enrolled in undergraduate or graduate-level coursework was recruited for participation in this study. Each individual provided demographic information and completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Literature Empathy Test (LET). The intervention group (n = 10) participated in a 45-minute character analysis training prior to completing the LET. The control group (n = 10) completed both assessments in a separate meeting with no intervention. A univariate analysis of covariance was used to discover the effect of character analysis training on LET scores in light of IRI scores. The data analysis revealed no significant relationship between the intervention and LET scores, but the findings provided several insights. Future research would benefit from modifications to the LET, inclusion of an additional empathy measure, and revisions to the sample size and inclusion criteria. Although the results of the present study were not significant, this area of research remains a promising means by which to promote social change by informing the pursuit of positive interpersonal relationships and prosocial behaviors

Empathy is the ability of a person to understand what another is experiencing from the receiver's perspective and the ability to communicate that understanding to the receiver. In nursing, empathy is believed to be a necessary component to the nurse-patient relationship. Evidence shows a decline in empathy specifically noted over time in nursing students who are preparing to graduate and enter the workforce. The practice focused question for this project asked whether an experiential learning toolkit for development of nursing empathy can improve sophomore nursing student empathy as measured via the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. This project was guided by evidence that demonstrated a continued need to measure the effect of activities aimed at fostering empathy in nursing students. The design for this project was a one group pre and post evaluation of a current healthcare program experiential learning toolkit. The project utilized a toolkit learning activity including case study and discussion in an undergraduate academic setting to assess whether empathy can be fostered in nursing students. Empathy levels were measured pre and post intervention utilizing the Jefferson Scale of Empathy. Analysis demonstrated a 3% increase in overall Jefferson score post intervention indicating an increase in empathic tendency. Of the 20 items on the scale, most scores increased pre to post survey. The findings are suggestive that experiential learning may be a viable strategy to increase empathy in nursing students. This project holds significant value for social change with the potential to identify effective methods to develop student nurses' expression of empathy.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (site viewed on Mar. 12, 2007). PDF text: viii, 134 p. : ill. (some col.) UMI publication number: AAT 3225993. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche format.