ABSTRACT High levels of trauma within the South African society affect the majority of the population either directly or indirectly. In order to assist individuals overcome such traumatic incidents, many companies in South Africa have contracted with Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) Providers to provide counselling to employees. These EAP counsellors are often the first mental health professionals to be exposed to a client’s traumatic story. Consequently, such counsellors may be vulnerable to compassion fatigue (CF). The consequences of EAP counsellors working with traumatised clients have been relatively unexplored. Therefore, this study proposed that EAP trauma counsellors are vulnerable within their scope of work and are an important group of professionals to be further investigated. Furthermore, leading authors in the field of trauma argue that both individual characteristics and environmental factors play a role in the development of CF. However, research into the process by which CF develops is extremely limited. Hence, this study attempted to explore this process through identifying possible core variables such as level of exposure, empathy and affect intensity and exploring their link to CF. The study was based on Figley’s (1995) Trauma Transmission Model, Dutton and Rubinstein’s (1995) Ecological Model and McRitchie’s (2006) Refined Model for Trauma Workers. The data was collected from 60 EAP counsellors, through self report measures. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics, correlations, a stepwise regression, two independent sample t-tests, and analysis of variance. Results revealed that 28.34% of the sample fell within the range for CF. There were significant correlations between Level of Exposure to traumatic material and CF; between levels of empathy and CF and between Affect Intensity and Empathy. There was no significant correlation between Affect Intensity and CF. Furthermore, the stepwise regression indicated that 56% of CF may be explained by a combination of four interacting variables, that is, Level of Exposure, Fantasy, Personal Distress and Perspective Taking.

Thesis advisor: Ellen Winner / Despite the widespread involvement of individuals in drama either as performers or audience members, psychologists know very little about the cognitive and affective underpinnings of acting. Acting may provide a powerful lens through which to understand how we understand our own and others' minds. In this dissertation, I review research on theory of mind, empathy, and emotion regulation, show how these three skills are related to acting theory and acting training, and discuss studies I have previously completed demonstrating correlations between skill in acting and skill in theory of mind, empathy, and positive emotion regulation. I then completed four studies. Study 1 was a longitudinal study comparing children (ages 8-10) receiving acting vs. visual arts training over the course of one academic year testing the hypothesis that acting training in childhood is causally related to development of advanced theory of mind, positive emotion regulation, and empathy. Study 1 found that children in acting classes gain in empathy and expression of emotion over a year above children involved in other art forms. Study 2 was a qualitative study designed to determine the kinds of habits of mind taught, explicitly and implicitly, in acting classes for children (ages 8-10). The purpose of Study 2 was to determine the extent to which acting teachers strive to teach theory of mind, empathy, and adaptive emotion regulation in their acting classes. Study 2 found that children in acting classes at this age are taught about physicality and motivation, with no emphasis on empathy or emotion regulation and only a slight emphasis on theory of mind. Study 3 was parallel to Study 1, but with young adolescents, aged 13-15. Study 3 found that adolescents involved in acting classes gain in their empathy, theory of mind acuity, and expressive emotion regulation over the course of a year over and above adolescents involved in other art forms. Study 4 was parallel to Study 2, with acting classes for adolescents. Study 4 found that adolescent acting classes focus on theory of mind and motivation, without any emphasis on empathy or emotion regulation. I conclude by considering the potential impact of this research on our understanding of typical development in theory of mind, empathy, emotion regulation, and on our understanding of individuals deficient in these skills. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2010. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: Psychology.

My dissertation explores the role of narrative in the cultivation of empathy for ethical attitudes and behaviors. I begin by exploring an uncommon view of human nature, concluding that we are not autonomously individualistic rational deciders but ultrasocial moral intuitionists. Our intuitions are developed through our social engagements and the moral imagination. Intersubjective relations run deep in our psychology and provide the basis by which we shape the meaning of our lives as individuals in communities. It is because of this that we need to reconsider and redesign our moral cultivation programs both for the child-rearing years and throughout adult life. I look at empathy, the means of our mutual understanding, care, and help, as a key site for moral cultivation. I explicate the neurophysiological bases of empathy, both conscious and unconscious. Empathy is on the continuum with very primitive, automatic mirroring systems, which through varying levels of mimicry facilitate social cognition and moral insight and action. It is thus the ideal means of cultivating a skillful morality. Empathy enables us to enter the worlds and feelings of others in rich and full-bodied ways and so can reveal others in their full subjectivity. Such experiences can incite empathic regard and compassionate action, but empathy, like all of our psycho-social capacities, requires cultivation to develop its skillfulness in practice. Narrative is an obvious means of cultivating empathy because it is humanity’s primary meaning-making structure, utilizing the empathic imagination to seduce us into the inner worlds of others. Through narrative dramatizations of experience, we learn to see and feel from another’s point of view, sensitizing us to their inner states and outward behavior. Such sensitivity can facilitate improving our moral attitudes and action by dislodging preoccupation with self-concern and instigating higher regard for others. In narratives we can imaginatively practice various moral actions, witnessing possible results. Reflective engagement can then bring the moral insights of these imaginative experiences to life in our practical worlds by attuning us to what is morally salient. Narrative engagement is thus a natural and vital part of shaping empathic moral perception for compassionate action. By reading and feeling with others reflectively, we can expand empathy for the pluralistic communities in which we live, make meaning, and grow.

As a paradigm of a wounded healer, parentified therapists may be gifted with therapeutic talents, but also with related vulnerabilities that may have a significant influence on their therapeutic practice. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to explore the impact of parentification on therapeutic practice, especially on the therapeutic skills of empathy and boundary settings. For this purpose, a mixed method design was employed in which 38 trainee psychologists provided self-report data on the constructs of parentification measured by parentification questionnaire (Jurkovic, 1997), empathy, measured by Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Davis, 1980), and boundary settings, measured by Exploitation Index (Epstein, 1990) in a survey study, while 4 trainee psychologists were interviewed in a separate study. First, the quantitative data were analysed to assess the existence of possible relationships among the variables of parentification, empathy and boundary transgressions by a regression analysis. The results offered significant suggestions for the predictive power of parentification in regard to empathy and boundary transgressions. Following this, a qualitative study analysed the interviews with the 4 trainees using thematic analysis to explore the above relationships and provided a deeper insight, especially for their therapeutic utility. Combining the findings, the current study supported that parentification may first of all catalyse the choice of a psychologist's profession, well as the choice of the psychotherapeutic approach. In regard to the interpersonal skills, parentification may positively impact the development of enhanced levels of empathy, boundary flexibility, and creativity. On the other hand, parentification may also negatively impact on practitioners by making them more vulnerable to enmeshed therapeutic relationships. Especially in the case of destructive parentification, professional support may be needed to minimise the risk for enmeshed relationships, by increasing self-care and self-other differentiation. Clinical implications for parentified therapists were also discussed.

Empathy is thought to involve cognitive processes that depend on the simulation of another's experiences. Embodiment has a key role for empathy as vehicle for recreating the experience of another. This thesis explores the validity of this claim by investigating what people do when communicating about their experiences. In particular, what is the contribution of our embodied resources such as gestures, postures and expressions to empathy and intersubjectivity? These questions are explored against two corpora of dyadic interactions. One features conversations of people describing recalled embodied experiences to each other, such as painful or pleasant bodily experiences like a headache or laughing. The other features a series of interactions designed to emulate informal conversations. The analysis uses hand coded gestures, feedback and clari cation questions, body movement data and a new approach to quantifying posture congruence. The analysis shows the embodied responses observed within these interactions are intentionally placed and formulated to facilitate the incremental process of a conversation as a joint activity. This is inconsistent with accounts that propose there is an automatic and non-conscious propensity for people to mimic each other in social interactions. Quantitative analysis show that patterns of gesture type and use, feedback form and posture di er systematically between interlocutors. Additionally, results show that resources provided by embodiment are allocated strategically. Nonverbal contributions increase in frequency and adjust their form responding to problems in conversation such as during clari cation questions and repair. Detailed qualitative analysis shows the instances that appear to display mimicry within the interaction function rather as embodied adaptations or paraphrases. In their contrast with the original contribution they demonstrate a speci c understanding of the type of experience being conveyed. This work shows that embodiment is an important resource for intersubjectivity and embodied communication is speci cally constructed to aid the collaborative, sequential and intersubjective progression of dialogue.

Considerable research has been conducted examining the benefits of diversity on campus and diversity programming for undergraduate students. However, minimal research has been focused on connecting reading fiction as a potential resource for diversity programming. Diversity courses, racial awareness workshops, and service learning opportunities are all supported by research for their transformational influence on students’ attitudes and perceptions towards minority and underrepresented groups on campus. Emerging studies have established that reading narrative fiction can enhance readers’ empathic and multicultural attitudes, shift perspectives and outlooks, and enhance moral reasoning. Benefits such as these could be harnessed to cultivate a campus culture that is inclusive and celebrates diversity. The purpose of this quantitative research study was to explore the relationship between self-reported reading habits of undergraduate students and multicultural awareness and acceptance scores, measured by the Survey of Self-Reported Reading Habits and Diversity Orientation of Undergraduate Students. A 33-item paper survey was distributed to 389 students enrolled in courses in the College of Business, College of Education, and College of Nursing at a public university in East Tennessee. Three hundred eighty-three usable surveys were collected from a sample size of 389, a 98% response rate. Results from the 2-way ANOVA analysis on the 9 research questions indicated that respondents who read at an avid or moderate level typically had higher scores revealing more openness and appreciation for diversity. Also, the majority of respondents reported reading at least at a moderate frequency level and fiction is one of the most preferred reading genres. The findings provide further support that reading literary fiction is a credible resource for fostering empathy and increasing tolerance on this campus.

The purpose of this study was to understand how instructional designers define empathy in the context of instructional design technology and how empathy was manifest in their daily work. Through a series of in-depth interviews with six designers, three definitions of empathy emerged including caring for the learner, referencing personal experience in service of the learner, and taking on somebody else's viewpoint. Additionally, analysis of empathy in participants' daily work resulted in six themes: personal experience, metacognition or self-awareness, project management constraints, multiple stakeholders, practical processes and traditional learner analysis, and navigating learner goals and motivation. Several complexities regarding empathy and learner analysis were revealed, including those pertaining to institutional constraints, managing empathetic relationships with various stakeholders beyond learners, the amount of learner analysis necessary for a good design, the degree to which interaction between designer and learner is necessary, and whether increased content knowledge helps designers effectively empathize with learners. In addition to these complexities of practice, the gap in research regarding learner analysis and empathy in instructional design were recommended as important topics for further research.

Most formal training programs in librarianship do not stress the nuts and bolts of leadership and professional development. Understanding this process is essential for current managers as well as those interested in pursuing a management path. Using empathy as a starting point, I will discuss the simple, sequential steps of performing a self-assessment of strengths and skills, how to identify and remedy weak areas, and how to promote yourself in a reality-based, practical way which will benefit your community. This process is applicable to librarians of all types and all levels of experience.

The concept of empathy has long been studied by literary scholars. Empathy can refer to several different affective, political, and aesthetic phenomena, however, and its often assumed connection to reading is far from proven. This dissertation explores three specific aspects of empathy as they appear in postwar North American fiction, with special emphasis on what they suggest about empathy’s relationship to gendered embodiment. Reading Ruptures examines readerly empathy (an aesthetic encounter with literature) in representations of dubious sexual consent; affective empathy (a political sentiment) in representations of pregnancy; and communicative empathy (a linguistic trope of science fiction) in representations of language viruses. While these distinct types of empathy can be conceptualized and experienced separately, they illuminate each other’s political opportunities and challenges when placed in conversation. Ultimately, this dissertation argues that although science fiction’s contributions to this conversation have historically been undervalued, SF offers fresh insights into empathy’s continuing and evolving relevance for posthuman embodiment and postmodern literature.

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