Enhancement of empathy in children through interventions

Amna  Murad; Ifra Iftikhar; Abbass Rashid  Butt

doi:10.31686/ijier.vol7.iss12.1938

Authors

Ms. Amna Murad

College of Home Economics Gulberg
Ifra Iftikhar

a:1:{s:5:"en_US";s:23:"Lahore Leads University";}
Mr. Abbas Rashid Butt

Lahore Leads University

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31686/ijier.vol7.iss12.1938

Keywords:

School-Going Children, Empathetic Attitude, Bullying Tendencies, Intervention, written stories

Abstract

This is a quasi-experimental study; a four-month intervention-program designed to boost the empathetic attitude in public school students of Pakistan. The empathy towards bullying was assessed in experimental (199) and control (184) groups. The study had three phases. In the first phase the students were engaged in different activities to foster empathy which established that empathetic score of students increased and the score of bullying tendencies decreased after the use of interventions. The activity began with a story, followed by a group discussion, highlighting the different aspects of human feelings, emotions and behaviors, alongside encouraging children to give their feedback. In the second phase 98 students were selected from treated group, boys (N= 53) and girls (N= 45). Six more interventions were applied including reciting stories, question-answer sessions related to stories, followed by asking about the lessons students learnt from these stories. These conversations ended on brief lectures of trainers about empathy guided by the researcher during the training of trainers. After completion of this session, in the third phae, for qualitative assessment selected students from treated group were asked to write a story about empathy. The study found that the boys and girls grasped the concept of empathy differently. For boys described empathy as being helpful while girls as a means of getting happiness; but both did not associate empathy with kindness. Also, the boys believed that parents are the first to notice changes in their personality while girls think its their teachers. Moreover, for adopting the attitude of empathy, unlike boys, girls showed more collective rather than personalized approach.

References

[1] A. Mehrabian, A. L. Young and S. Sato, "Emotional empathy and associated individual differences," Current Psychology, pp. 7.3: 221-240, 1988.
[2] V. IJzendoorn and M. H., "Attachment, emergent morality, and aggression: Toward a developmental socioemotional model of antisocial behaviour," International Journal of Behavioral Development, pp. 21.4: 703-728, 1997.
[3] C. Zahn-Waxler, J. L. Robinson and R. N. Emde, "The development of empathy in twins," Developmental Psychology, 1992.
[4] C. Zahn-Waxler, Radke-Yarrow, W. Marian, C. Elizabeth and Michael, "Development of concern for others," Developmental Psychology, pp. Vol 28(1), 126-136, 1992.
[5] N. Eisenberg and P. A. Miller, "The relation of empathy to prosocial and related behaviors," Psychological bulletin, pp. Vol. 101, No. 1.91-119, 1987.
[6] M. E. Minter, R. P. Hobson and L. Pring, "Recognition of vocally expressed emotion by congenitally blind children," Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness, pp. 411-415, 1991.
[7] M. J. Dyck, C. Farrugia, I. M. Shochet and M. Holmes-Brown, ""Emotion recognition/understanding ability in hearing or vision‐impaired children: do sounds, sights, or words make the difference?," Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, pp. 45.4: 789-800, 2004.
[8] M. H. Davis, ""Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach," Journal of personality and social psychology, pp. Vol 44.No.1: 113-126, 1983.
[9] L. A. Penner, B. A. Fritzsche, J. P. Craiger and T. S. Freifeld, "Measuring the prosocial personality," in Advances in personality assessment, LEA, 1995, pp. 10: 147-163.
[10] A. K. Syvertsen, L. Wray-Lake, C. A. Flanagan, D. W. Osgood and L. Briddell, ""Thirty‐year trends in US adolescents' civic engagement: A story of changing participation and educational differences," Journal of Research on Adolescence, pp. Vol 21. No. 3: 586-594, 2011.
[11] H.-W. Charng, J. A. Piliavin and P. L. Callero, "Role identity and reasoned action in the prediction of repeated behavior," Social Psychology Quarterly, pp. 51.4: 303-17, 1988.
[12] J. A. Piliavin, "The Development of Motives, Self-identities and Values Tied to Blood Donation: a Polish-American Comparison Study," in Social and Moral Values: Individual and Societal Perspectives, N. Eisenberg, J. Reykowski and E. Staub, Eds., Lawrence Erlbaum, 1989.
[13] L. Lee, J. A. Piliavin and V. R. Call, "Giving time, money, and blood: Similarities and differences," Social psychology quarterly, pp. 62.3: 276-290, 1999.
[14] A. Kaukiainen, K. Björkqvist, K. Lagerspetz, K. Österman, C. Salmivalli, S. Rothberg and A. Ahlbom, "The relationships between social intelligence, empathy, and three types of aggression," Aggressive behavior, pp. 25.2: 81-89, 1999.
[15] C. Hoffner, "Affective responses and exposure to frightening films: The role of empathy and different types of content," Communication Research Reports, pp. 26(4): 285-296, 2009.
[16] L. R. Huesmann, J. Moise-Titus, C.-L. Podolski and L. D. Eron, "Longitudinal relations between children's exposure to TV violence and their aggressive and violent behavior in young adulthood: 1977-1992.," Developmental psychology, p. 39.2: 201, 2003.
[17] L. R. Huesmann, "Psychological processes promoting the relation between exposure to media violence and aggressive behavior by the viewer," Journal of social issues , pp. 42.3: 125-139, 1986.
[18] N. R. Crick, M. A. Bigbee and C. Howes, "Gender differences in children's normative beliefs about aggression: How do I hurt thee? Let me count the ways," Child Development, pp. 67.3: 1003-1014, 1996.
[19] N. R. Crick and J. K. Grotpeter, "Relational Aggression, Gender, and Social‐Psychological Adjustment," Child Development, pp. Vol 66 (3): 710-722, 1995.
[20] B. R. Galen and M. K. Underwood, "A developmental investigation of social aggression among children," Developmental Psychology, p. 33.4: 589., 1997.
[21] G. Comstock and H. Paik, Television and the American Child, Academic Press, 1991.
[22] P. E. Bailey, J. Henry and W. V. Hippel, "Empathy and social functioning in late adulthood.," Aging Mental Health, p. 12(4):499–503, 2008.
[23] P. L. Callero, "Role-Identity Salience," Social Psychology Quarterly, pp. 48.3: 203-14, 1985.