Intellectual Empathy Research Articles

Engaging seventh-grade students in prediction-observation-explanation of plant absorbance/transport phenomena: impact on relational conceptual changes and scientific inquiry abilities

ABSTRACT This study examined the impact of a Prediction-Observation-Explanation (POE) intervention on 15 seventh-grade students’ relational conceptual changes and scientific inquiry abilities as they investigated the plant absorbance/transport phenomena in a photosynthesis learning sequence. The variation theory of learning that promotes intellectual empathy underpinned the study’s pedagogy. A granular phenomenography analysis of students’ pre-post inter-intra-explanations through writing and drawing resulted in seven theoretical descriptive categories. A relational conceptual change perspective involved in the interventional investigations resulted in 1) adding and deleting categories of ideas from pre-to-post teaching, 2) change in the number of students within the categories of ideas, 3) the replacement of everyday language with scientific knowledge, and 4) the complexity of students’ responses from pre-to post-teaching. In assessing students’ scientific inquiry ability levels with a POE analytic rubric of writing and drawing worksheets, 18% and 82% were developing and proficient, respectively.

Beyond Reasonableness: Argumentative Virtues in Pragma-Dialectics

AbstractThe pragma-dialectical research program begins with a philosophical estate, in which a conception of reasonableness is offered that must serve as ground for the theoretical estate. Pragma-dialectics has produced many important insights in the theoretical estate, including the ideal model and the rules for critical discussions. However, here I will argue that the conception of reasonableness that the pragma-dialecticians adopt in the philosophical estate, based on anti-dogmatism, assumption of fallibilism and willingness to engage in critical discussion, is too narrow to support the whole system of pragma-dialectical rules. What the philosophical estate requires is a broad and rich conception of excellent performance in argumentative practice, which then the rules of the critical discussion are intended to capture systematically in the theoretical estate. In my view, a virtue approach to argumentation is the ideal framework for such a philosophical ground. Virtues such as intellectual empathy, intellectual honesty, faith in reason, or recognition of reliable authority, point towards aspects of a philosophical conception of excellent arguing that are absent in the pragma-dialectical view of reasonableness. Finally, I will argue that what pragma-dialecticians call “second-order conditions” for a critical discussion are better understood as minimal argumentative virtue, a basic degree of virtue that arguers are required to possess in order to be prepared to participate in a fruitful critical discussion. The possession of such a basic degree of argumentative virtue is, I believe, what we mean when we characterise someone as reasonable.

TRANSVERSALITY AND MULTIRATIONALITY OF ENGINEERING THINKING: WAR AND PEACE OPTIONS

The article examines the phenomenon of engineering thinking in the context of a paradigm shift from scientific research to technological engineering. These changes delineate a new plane of research, where engineering thinking and engineering activity receive a new configuration that cannot be reduced to a linear understanding. The issue of representation of engineering thinking requires the involvement of an interdisciplinary methodology. The purpose of the article is to analyze, firstly, to explore engineering thinking as a multi-essential phenomenon, secondly, to characterize transversality and multi-rationality as attributive characteristics of engineering thinking; thirdly, to highlight the social significance of engineering thinking in war and peace options. To define engineering thinking, the concept of «design thinking» is used, which overcomes the understanding of the latter as reproductive thinking. The application of such concepts as «transversality» and «multirationality» allows to investigate engineering thinking as a phenomenon that flexibly responds to challenges and acquires the importance of a mediator whose task is to create projects to resolve existing contradictions and crises. Turning to the «interiorization – exteriorization» system allows you to represent the challenges that the community puts forward to the activity of the human engineer and to articulate the creative activity of the latter. The rhizome character of engineering thinking is emphasized, which overcomes its understanding only in the context of cognitive conceptualization, that is, in the system of abilities, skills, etc. Emphasis is placed on the expediency of using the affective dimension as a manifestation of independent thinking and testifies to the multi-rationality of engineering thinking. In this connection, intellectual traits («intellectual courage», «intellectual empathy», «justice», etc.) act as existentials that construct engineering thinking. We are talking about an engineer. The role of engineering in post-conflict scenarios is considered, which consists in helping to restore and stabilize society, ensuring its security in peace options. It is noted that engineering thinking plays a key role in the adaptation of military technologies.

Empathetic and Dialogic Interactions: Modelling Intellectual Empathy and Communicating Care

Empathetic and Dialogic Interactions: Modelling Intellectual Empathy and Communicating Care

Competency Education for Effective Altruism Practice

Altruism is generally regarded as the ideology of sacrificing or devoting oneself to the happiness of others without regard for one’s own happiness. However, this idea is difficult to put into wide practice due to the fact that it does not consider the actors themselves. Thus, the philosopher Peter Singer argues for “effective” altruism, which is much easier to practice and more acceptable. The effective altruism he proposes aims at maximizing the good by considering the happiness of the subject of action. His thought is different from that of existing altruism in that the opportunity to help others is not based on emotion but rather on critical reasoning. In addition, effective altruism is closely related to solving current and future problems in that it presupposes practice. Effective altruism contributes to the maximization of the good of everyone, including the actor, and can be an alternative to reciprocal altruism, which can lead to collective selfishness, which in turn brings positive changes to the lives of the actor as well as the beneficiaries. In this respect, I argue that effective altruism needs to be widely taught, and that four competencies need to be emphasized as educational measures: emotional empathy, intellectual empathy, rational thinking, and practice and positive feedback.

The Imperatives of Critical Thinking in Intercultural Philosophy

AbstractIn this research, an attempt is made to interrogate the practice of intercultural philosophy with a view to showing that the critical thinking mindset is imperative for a balanced, progressive, and respectful intercultural engagement. A world in which cultures relate to one another on the basis of equality, mutual respect, and recognition of one another’s identity and rights has remained elusive. The need for such a world and the dynamics of such transcultural relations form the central themes of intercultural philosophy. Specifically, this article argues that there can be no genuine intercultural discourse without the core values of critical thinking, such as open-mindedness, fair-mindedness, intellectual empathy, intellectual humility, intellectual perseverance, intellectual integrity, and intellectual courage. This article’s claim is that genuine intercultural engagement devoid of ego politics and the geopolitics of marginalization and superiorization must transcend the barriers of egocentrism and sociocentrism. Using an example of the conversational method, the authors interrogate critical thinking as an integral component of a viable intercultural discourse.

Interpersonal Intellectual Virtues

Due to the hyperspecialization so prevalent nowadays, interdisciplinary research is a demanding kind of epistemic activity. The concept of intellectual virtue as presented by responsibilist approaches of virtue epistemology could offer an effective counterweight to this challenge but raises the question of what epistemic virtues are necessary for interdisciplinarity.
 Based on a qualitative study, we identify and heuristically conceptualize a relevant subset of epistemic virtues required by interdisciplinarity that we call interpersonal intellectual virtues. These virtues are personal character traits that facilitate the reciprocal acquisition and distribution of knowledge with and through other people. By their very nature, they are only exercised in an interpersonal relationship that seeks an epistemic good, so in some sense, they are at the intersection of social virtues and intellectual virtues.
 We use Jason Baehr’s four-dimensional proposal for the essential components of intellectual virtues (motivational, affective, skill, and judgment) to show that these interpersonal traits are indeed epistemic virtues. Some examples of interpersonal intellectual virtues are intellectual empathy, intellectual respect, and intellectual trust, among others. Intellectual empathy is a paradigmatic case that we analyze in more detail.
 Finally, we suggest that interpersonal intellectual virtues are the key character traits of people involved in any successful collective epistemic endeavor, interdisciplinary research being a privileged context in which we can clearly see their manifestation.

O czytaniu aforyzmów Nietzschego

The article discuses text hermeneutics, which many years ago were disputed by Gadamer and Derrida. Buczyńska-Garewicz considers the importance of the notion of the eternal return in Nietzsche’s writings. She analyses various connotation strata of this notion, and concludes that they are compatible rather than exclusive. Thus, the widely shared conviction that the notion of eternal return is fundamentally unc-lear is falsified. Buczyńska-Garewicz treats this concept as anaxis along which the whole philosophy of Nietzsche is concentrated. This notion has many masks, and in the end its ambiguity turns out to be a positive rather than a negative trait. The article demonstrates that there is need of intellectual empathy which transcends the formal rules of text analysis. Nietzsche treated thinking not as the lifeless letter of doctrine, but as live experience, and this should be constantly kept in mind while reading his writings. Intellectual empathy appears to be the most important aspect in the process of comprehensive reading.

The Value of False Theories in Science Education

Teaching false theories goes against the general pedagogical and philosophical belief that we must only teach and learn what is true. In general, the goal of pedagogy is taken to be epistemic: to gain knowledge and avoid ignorance. In this article, I argue that for realists and antirealists alike, epistemological and pedagogical goals have to come apart. I argue that the falsity of a theory does not automatically make it unfit for being taught. There are several good reasons for teaching false theories in school science. These are (a) false theories can bring about genuine (non-factive) understanding of the world; (b) teaching some false theories from the history of science that line up with children’s ideas can provide students “intellectual empathy” and also aid in better grasp of concepts; (c) teaching false theories from the history of science can sharpen students’ understanding of the nature of science; (d) scientists routinely use false theories and models in their practice and it is good sense for science education to mirror scientific practice; and (e) learning about patently non-scientific and antiscientific ideas will prepare students to face and respond to them. In making arguments for the foregoing five points, I draw upon the work of a variety of philosophers and historians of science, cognitive scientists, science education scholars, and scientists. My goal here is not only to justify theories considered false already being taught, but also to actively endorse the teaching of some theories considered false that are by and large not currently taught.

Development and validation of the Empathy Scale in Patient Care: Chinese version

Our objective was to construct a comprehensive and psychometrically tested Chineselanguage Empathy Scale in Patient Care (ES-PC) for use with Taiwanese people. We randomly selected 820 medical-care students and professionals who provided 789 valid responses to a written survey. After exploratory factor analysis, 23 items were derived, which were rated on a 9-point scale, and 3 factors were elicited: behavioral empathy (9 items; 44.73% of total variance), affective empathy (7 items; 10.99%), and intellectual empathy (7 items; 5.71%). The Cronbach's α coefficient values for the 3 subscales and the overall scale ranged from .87 to .94, indicating internal consistency. Evidence of concurrent validity was also provided to support the external validity of the ES-PC. The test–retest correlation coefficient for the entire scale was r = .89. The findings proved that the ES-PC could be a reliable and valid instrument to measure the level of empathy in the medical cultural context of Taiwan.

Intellectual Empathy: Critical Thinking for Social Justice, by Maureen Linker

Intellectual Empathy: Critical Thinking for Social Justice, by Maureen Linker

Relationship between therapist empathy and client-perceived working alliance in China: A multilevel modelling analysis

This naturalistic study examined the relationship between two types of therapist empathy, intellectual empathy and empathic emotion, and client-perceived working alliance (WA) in China. The study adopted the definitions and assessment methods of empathy recommended by Duan and Hill and used the theory of WA by Bordin and WA Inventory-Short by Tracey and Kokotovic. Eighty-six clients and 43 therapists from a university counselling centre at a comprehensive university in China participated in the study. Therapist intellectual empathy and empathic emotion and client-reported WA measured in six consecutive sessions from the second through the seventh session were assessed for each session. The results of multilevel modelling analyses showed that client-perceived WA increased significantly session after session, and therapist empathic emotion significantly predicted Tasks of WA. Moreover, there was significant therapist effect associated with Bond. In the context of empathy and WA research findings reported in the USA, some of the non-significant results of this study were intriguing. We discuss the study results with particular attention to the Chinese cultural context and present suggestions for future research.

Do Squirrels Eat Hamburgers?: Intellectual Empathy as a Remedy for Residual Prejudice

In her 2007 book "Epistemic Injustice" Miranda Fricker argues that "the silent by products of residual prejudice in a liberal society" are often the most difficult biases to eradicate. In this essay, I provide several examples of the kind of residual prejudice Fricker describes. I then propose a principle of "intellectual empathy" (with four component elements) as a methodological remedy for eradicating this kind of bias in good critical thinking.

Does my group know how I feel? Measuring intellectual empathy in groups using the social relations model.

Does my group know how I feel? Measuring intellectual empathy in groups using the social relations model.

Enhancing Intellectual Empathy: The Lived Experience of Voice Simulation

This study aimed to understand the lived experience of voice simulation with the novice nurse and to describe the impact on the nurse's empathy and desire to develop a therapeutic relationship. Twenty-eight women and men participated in a detailed narrative investigation of reflective writing of the lived experience of hearing voices through a voice simulation experience. A sense of insight was developed, and participants felt they could empathize with this type of suffering. The ability to change attitudes to focus on the development of therapeutic relationships was enhanced. Voice simulation assists the novice nurse in developing intellectual empathy.

In Focus: Teaching "Difficult" Films: Introduction

Introduction Paul McEwan (bio) Teaching is central to what almost all SCMS members do every day, yet we spend surprisingly little time talking about how we teach film. It is, of course, often secondary to research in the institutions where we work. But even those of us who work in teaching-focused liberal arts do not have much opportunity to exchange ideas about film pedagogy. In addition, many film scholars are the only "film person" in their institution or department, which limits the possibility to exchange ideas with colleagues. The only stories we share tend to be recollections of what the students "didn't get" and the frustrations of what did not work. This section is an opportunity to exchange some ideas about what works. Film is a particular challenge in the classroom precisely because our students arrive with a lifetime of experience with cinema and strong notions of what movies should look like (invariably betraying a preference for contemporary Hollywood narrative film). It can be difficult to get them to understand and appreciate films that are beyond this experience, and equally difficult to have them look anew at something they have known all of their lives. For that reason, the definition of "difficult" we use here includes not just the exotic and the foreign, but also the familiar and quotidian. Effective teaching might be best understood as an act of intellectual empathy, depending as it does on our ability to understand what our students do and do not know, to correctly recognize the framework of their assumptions and preconceptions so that we can begin building at a suitable point. With film, there are often old ideas to be dismantled as well as new ones to be built, and those ideas are wrapped up in notions of pleasure and entertainment that can be difficult for students to face, let alone unravel. In my classes, I always want it to be clear that I am not trying to replace their emotional and visceral enjoyment of film with a purely intellectual appreciation of "better" film. I point out that my intellectual and academic study of film has never ruined for me the emotional pleasures of cinema. Rather, it has allowed me to greatly expand the sources of that pleasure, and that is what I try to do for them. [End Page 93] Of course, for anyone who has become a professor, intellectual ideas are in themselves a source of pleasure, so there is no need to sacrifice one for the other. Indeed, convincing students of this interplay is one of the goals of a liberal arts education. Thus, as a bridge between the visceral and the reflective, between the emotional and the intellectual, film studies is uniquely situated to convince students of the joys of intellectual inquiry. Paul McEwan Paul McEwan's current research project is a book on the history of the reception of The Birth of a Nation. Previous essays have appeared in the International Journal of Cultural Studies and the collection Affiliations: Identity in Academic Culture. He is assistant professor of media and communication and associate director of film studies at Muhlenberg College in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Copyright © 2007 University of Texas Press

Model of Effects of Adult Attachment on Emotional Empathy of Counseling Students

Counselor educators and counseling researchers have historically devoted a great deal of attention to empathy in counseling (Bowman & Reeves, 1987; Duan & Hill, 1996; Gladstein, 1977). From most counseling theoretical perspectives, empathy is seen as a fundamental part of the counseling process (Carlozzi, Bull, Eells, & Hurlburt, 1995; Hartley, 1995; Ivey, Ivey, & Simek-Morgan, 1993). However, research on empathy has decreased over the last several years. Duan and Hill argued for a renewal of research on empathy. They illuminated the theoretical salience of empathy and the lack of empirical evidence. In particular, Duan and Hill called for increased study of (a) the cognitive and emotional dimensions of empathy, (b) variables that influence empathy, (c) the experience and communication of empathy by counselors, (d) the interaction of counselor and client emotions, and (e) empathy in the context of cultural diversity. The present study focused on the first two of these suggestions. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the influences of adult attachment on emotional empathy in master's-level counseling students. Through structural equation modeling, a measurement and structural model of the effects of attachment on empathy was developed. Gender was an exogenous variable in the structural model. Because attachment theory focuses firmly on emotional processes (Ainsworth, Blehar, Waters, & Wall, 1978), the present study focused on the emotional dimension of empathy. The research question was the following: How well does the adult attachment-emotional empathy model fit the data for master's-level counseling students? * Literature Review Empathy Duan and Hill (1996), in a review of literature, described various conceptualizations of the empathy construct. Researchers have conceptualized and defined empathy in terms of cognitive and affective mechanisms, resulting in three common conceptualizations: (a) as a cognitive or intellectual process, (b) as an affective or emotional process, and (c) as a process involving both cognitive and affective phenomena. Both Duan and Hill and Gladstein (1977) described cognitive empathy as the ability to intellectually assume the perspective of another person. The authors characterized emotional empathy as an emotional response to another person's emotion (feeling another person's feeling). According to Gladstein (1977), Rogers's (1957, 1975) conceptualization of empathy involves both intellectual and emotional components. Duan and Hill recognized the emotional aspects of Rogers's conceptualization but characterized it more in terms of intellectual empathy. Empathy has also been conceptualized and studied as (a) a personality trait (e.g., Davis, 1983; Mehrabian & Epstein, 1972), (b) a state (e.g., Baston, Fultz, & Schoenrade, 1987), and (c) an experiential process (Rogers, 1975). Rogers initially described empathy as a cognitive-affective state (Rogers, 1957), then later as a cognitive-affective process (Rogers, 1975). There have been many studies of emotional empathy, but the number of recent studies using samples of counseling students is relatively small. However, there is evidence that emotional empathy is related to counseling skill and other variables indicative of effective counseling. Ridgway and Sharpley (1990) examined the relationships of several measures to three outcome variables: counseling skill, counselor behavior, and client satisfaction. Participants were counseling students who were beginning their counseling-skills training. The independent variables included measures of intellectual (cognitive) empathy, emotional empathy, and communicative (nonverbal) empathy. Emotional empathy was the only empathy variable that was significantly related to the outcome variables. In addition, the relationships of emotional empathy to other dimensions of empathy were very weak. From a review of literature on empathy, Gladstein (1983) concluded that emotional empathy is most important in the initial stages of counseling and important in helping clients increase their self-awareness. …

Relationships among Therapist Presession Mood, Therapist Empathy, and Session Evaluation

Intellectual empathy, operationalized as the counselor's accuracy in perceiving a client's emotions, and empathic emotion, or the similarity between the therapist's and the client's emotions, were examined in relation to therapist presession mood and clients' session evaluations. Fifty-eight client-therapist dyads completed the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (Zuckerman, Lubin, & Rinck, 1983) before and after a midtreatment counseling session. Clients also completed the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (Stiles & Snow, 1984). Results showed that both intellectual empathy and empathic emotion contributed significantly to client-rated session depth but not session smoothness. Counselor presession positive affect was negatively related to empathic emotion, whereas counselor presession anxiety was positively related to intellectual empathy.

Relationships Among Therapist Presession Mood, Therapist Empathy, and Session Evaluation

Intellectual empathy, operationalized as the counselor's accuracy in perceiving a client's emotions, and empathic emotion, or the similarity between the therapist's and the client's emotions, were examined in relation to therapist presession mood and clients' session evaluations. Fifty-eight client-therapist dyads completed the Multiple Affect Adjective Check List (Zuckerman, Lubin, & Rinck, 1983) before and after a midtreatment counseling session. Clients also completed the Session Evaluation Questionnaire (Stiles & Snow, 1984). Results showed that both intellectual empathy and empathic emotion contributed significantly to client-rated session depth but not session smoothness. Counselor presession positive affect was negatively related to empathic emotion, whereas counselor presession anxiety was positively related to intellectual empathy.

Being Empathic: The Role of Motivation to Empathize and the Nature of Target Emotions

The effect of the observer's motivation to empathize and the nature of the target person's emotions on empathy was examined. The study distinguished intellectual empathy, the extent to which the observer takes the target person's perspective, and empathic emotion, the extent to which the observer feels the target emotions. Intellectual empathy was measured via attribution errors that the observer made in attributing the target person's situation, and empathic emotion by the congruence between the emotions of the target person and the observer. The first experiment showed that pleasant emotions and sadness elicited more empathic emotion than did shame and anger. The second experiment revealed that motivation increased intellectual empathy when the target person was sad, and empathic emotion when the target person was happy. Intellectual empathy and empathic emotion appeared to be distinguishable constructs and could correlate under certain conditions.