Mod 5: Supporting Empathy and Inclusion

Empathy arises in its simplest form as a vicarious experience of what another person is feeling. Even infants feel empathy when they cry spontaneously at the sound of another infant’s crying. As we mature, so does our capacity for empathy. As young children, we progress from merely identifying others’ feelings based on facial expressions to discerning what others might be thinking about their situation. In later childhood, we imagine how we might think and feel if we were in the other person’s shoes. And in adolescence, we begin to feel empathy universally for groups of people who are suffering (e.g., from poverty or war) even though we may not have face-to-face contact with them (Hoffman, 2000; Ekman, 2014).

Empathy forms the basis for our inclusion of others and can be used to improve intergroup attitudes and relations (Bateson & Ahmad, 2009). The first lesson seeks to counter a feeling of “otherness” by having students explore the richness of each other’s family heritage and culture, building an appreciation of both differences and commonalities. In Lesson 5.2 students review and renew an important component of empathy: their ability to recognize others’ feelings through facial expressions (Ekman, 2007). This ability needs repeated practice as it can be easily worn down by media platforms that interfere with direct interactions with others (Phillips, 2020).

Learning about other “attractors” (what helps build empathy) and “detractors” (what leads to blind spots and less empathy) is the focus of Lesson 5.3. Attractors are like a “mirror” in which we see ourselves, e.g., we are more likely to feel empathy for others who are like us in how they look and behave, experiences they have had, and the values they hold. Detractors are like “windows” to others’ experiences, beliefs, and values that appear different from our own. This exploration continues in Lesson 5.4 as students work in groups on a fun quiz to see how much they know about different cultural groups, e.g., their foods, traditions, holidays, art, and literature. Next students use the Riddle Scale (1995) which helps them evaluate reactions to diversity and move from possible feelings of repulsion and pity to tolerance and beyond to admiration and nurturance.

Moving from feeling what another person might be feeling to supporting and advocating for that person adds action to empathy. Expanding one’s social circle by brushing up on conversational skills for meeting, mingling, and making connections to others as outlined in Lesson 5.5, provides a good starting point. Next, students explore what positive advocacy looks like and identify situations that might call them to step up to support and defend others hurt in social interactions that diminish or shun them (Lesson 5.6). For challenging conversations which involve passionate disagreement, Lesson 5.7 suggests a “be curious, not furious” approach to better understand others’ experience and perspective before stating one’s own. Finally, Lesson 5.8 expands advocacy to issues outside of one’s immediate spheres, e.g., what they think needs to improve in the community, country, and/or world.

As a culminating activity for the module, Lesson 5.9 asks students to draw upon the concepts and skills presented and practiced in previous lessons to create a PBL presentation on how to create more caring and inclusive communities. Finally, in Lesson 5.10, students reflect on what they learned throughout the module and assess their attainment of the skills presented and practiced.