The narrative within which we each participate is but a window of the relationships we have with others. It is through our conversations and the stories that we tell to each other that we try to gain an understanding of our world. Embedded in those conversations are the feelings and emotions of others. The contextual nature along with the emotional component becomes part of our own experience. This process of listening to others, acquiring information and trying to understand context lies at the core of our human experience. If not connected with others then we exist in a vacuum, void of stories and isolated. How do we connect with others? It is at our core to empathize with others, the heart of trust development. It is not fully developed when we arrive from the womb. Our parental up-bringing coupled with the experiences when have with other adults, through school, church and within the community help to bring us to an empathic maturity that we would not be able to arrive at on our own. What is empathy and how does it develop throughout our experience?
As many definitions do, it is important that we distinguish between the terms empathy and sympathy. Ciaramicoli and Ketcham (2000) explain, "Whereas sympathy seeks to console, empathy works to understand. Empathy requires a certain emotional distance- you have to step away from the grief, fear, and anger to create a space in which your thoughts can exert a calming influence on your feelings" (p.38). It is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. It is related to both experiencing another's joy and sorrow. Empathy is one component of emotional intelligence (EI). Emotional intelligence can be divided up into two broad categories, those that refer to interpersonal relationships and those of the intrapersonal nature. Salovey and Mayer (1990) categorized EI into five domains, the first three relating to the intrapersonal: 1) self-awareness, 2) managing emotions, 3) motivating oneself, and the last two relating to the interpersonal; 4) empathy and 5) handling relationships. EI is not a personality trait or a preferred way of behaving but is itself a set of abilities.
Empathy is a core nature of individuals for which there is both an affective and cognitive component as a part of their emotional intelligence. Hoffman (2000) writes of the affective side of empathy which " . . .seems like a simple concept- one feels what the other feels" (p. 30). As a child watches the experience of another child literally, through the activation of mirror neurons, there is a neurological emotional response that arises (Rifkin, 2009, p.85). The cognitive aspect of empathy is the processing and categorization of the emotions that are being experienced. This is furthered by Hoffman in his "key requirement of an empathic response . . . the involvement of psychological processes that make a person have feelings that are more congruent with another's situation than with his own situation" (p.30).
The development of the empathic drive happens throughout a person's life time. According to Hoffman (2000) there are five levels of development, three of which are preverbal; facial mimicry, classical conditioning, direct association and two which are verbal in nature; mediated association and role taking. As an infant, children will begin to read the facial expressions of others and be able to recognize their emotional state. Through a process of classical conditioning, as the mother and child begin to further bond there will be a time when the child is able to recognize the physical state of the mother and in turn experience that state (the mother is distressed and thus so is the infant). The final preverbal stage is that of direct association. As a child is of the age to recognize another person's plight, it conjures up a past experience and the accompanying emotions. There is an association of another's pain with feelings that the observer has experienced in the past. Moving to the verbal development of children, the next stage, mediated association, requires the ability of the individual to connect with an emotional situation that is communicated verbally. This stage combines both the affective and cognitive functions to create an empathic response. Finally the last stage of empathic development is that of role taking whereby an individual is able to image what it is like to be in another person's situation. Through the act of imagining there is an empathic response that is created and the feeling associated with that are real (pp. 38-62).
In terms of instructional leadership, an understanding of the development of empathy is extremely important. Empathy is a core component in the development of prosocial behaviour. (Hoffman, 2000) "Prosocial behaviour is any behaviour that benefits others, such as sharing, cooperating, including others in play, complementing and confronting others" (Ramaswamy & Bergin, 2009, p537). Prosocial behaviour predicts academic achievement and social adjustment in school.as academic achievement depends on positive relationships with teachers and peers, as well as active engagement in the classroom. With the realization of the implication of how empathy can affect performance in school, leaders of education must then ask the question, how we can promote its development.
Tied to the relationships we form with others, empathy's development is linked to the future achievement of learners and as Jeremy Rifkin would attest to the survival of humanity as a whole. Can empathy be taught in the classroom and on the playgrounds of our schools? I would have to say yes, though some schools and play grounds better than others. I personally feel that we are doing this already in a significant way. Through the selection of modes of discipline within schools, the increasing effort to provide a human purpose to the content we are learning through a universal design of curriculum and the implementation of service learning projects in schools we are using a number of strategies that are developing the empathic maturity of our students. It is through a purposeful awareness that we need to take the next step. I feel that is needs to be embedded in all that we do, not just for the student or the community but for humanity.
References
Ciaramicoli, A., Ketcham, K. (2000). The power of empathy: A practical guide to creating intimacy, self-understanding and lasting love. New York: Dutton Press.
Hoffman, M. (2000). Empathy and Moral Development: Implications for caring and justice. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Rifkin, J. (2009). The empathic civilization; The race to global consciousness in a world in crisis. New York, NY: Tarcher/ Pengiun.
Ramaswamy, V., Bergin, C. (2009). Do reinforcement and induction increase prosocial behavior? Results of a teacher-based intervention in preschools. Journal of research in Childhood Education. 23(4), 527-538
Salovey, P. & Mayer, J. D. (1990). Emotional intelligence. Imagination, Cognition, and Personality, 9, 185-211
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