...Running Head: EMPATHY AND SOCIAL LEARNING Developing Empathy: Nurturing Through Social Learning Abstract This paper explores the Social Learning Theory and how prosocial behavior, specifically empathy, is cultured through observation, modeling and imitation. Empathy is defined through a review of Bandura’s Bobo Doll experiment, Jeremy Sloan’s article on developing empathy and the impact it has on animals in our world, and an assessment of empathy in future criminal justice professionals. All provide evidence and data to support the finding that adults have lasting influence on children and how ones behavior is formed. Empathy is a vital trait and it’s a primary requisite for successfully managing daily experiences. Key words: Empathy, Modeling, Social Learning, and Development Introduction The development of empathy allows us the innate ability to relate to another’s experiences, motives and feelings. It is the foundation of compassion and caring, and is monumental in many of life’s challenges and successes. It is what allows us to learn from others and become responsible, caring adults. Many significant professions require empathy: medical care, fire rescue, education, criminal justice, and most importantly parenting. Tragic events such as slavery and the Holocaust illuminate the significance of empathy, it’s part in humankind’s wellbeing, and how requisite it is to encourage healthy development of the trait (Sajo, 2011). It is therefore of utmost...
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...piles the plastic plates on the kitchen table. She then aligns cups in a row (according to their size) and later hands out the cups to the other children without asking them if they want the cups. Lilly receives praise from her teacher for sharing with others. The ability to place objects in a certain order begins to develop in children from the age of four or five. This skill is perceived as a difficult conceptual achievement that requires the development and comprehension of spatial relations. Lilly has illustrated through the arrangement of cups that she understands the basic concepts of size and how to place them in a descending order. Lilly’s choice of kitchen as a place to play may be due to the gender-role stereotypes that she has been exposed to from an early age. Children learn about gender stereotypical behavior through diverse media and observation; this leads to the development of a certain gender-role behavioral model, which the child internalizes and exhibits later in life. Therefore, Lilly may have internalized the stereotypical female role that she had observed in her environment. Therefore, she attempts to model the learned behavior by playing in the kitchen. By giving cups to a number of children, Lilly may be seen as exhibiting a degree of pro-social behavior. Pro-social behavior would require a child to experience empathy towards another person; according to Piaget, this is not possible due to the egocentrism of the child through the ages of 2 until 7. This is...
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...Biologists will support the nature side of the debate while the environmentalist/behaviourists will support the nurture side of the debate. The two stages of development of an individual that will be discussed in this spread are adults and children. At the very beginning of development, infants are believed to inherit the capacity to learn how to walk, learn a language(s) and mimic behaviour. From a nature perspective, this is an advantage for survival because their interaction helps them to inform an adult, especially parents, their needs for comfort, hunger, warmth etc. although, the type of surrounding of the infant is also important too. But, there is evidence that shows that children’s behaviours can be learned (nurture) i.e. feral children study of two boys who were raised by a lioness in Cairo, Egypt. Dave and Chip were described as “lionfish” in appearance and behaviour. This shows that even if they were not raise by a human(s), what they see is what they learn. If biology is so strong in influencing our behaviour, then these children must be acting normal like others even if they did not grow in a normal family, but that didn’t happen. There are many stories of feral children but all have come to one important point. That is the important role of education. All the things a child must know, or can do, must be learned. For example a child must learn how to walk, use fork and knife to eat, to ride a bicycle and many more, all of which will help for them to survive longer. Similarly...
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...Robinson in court for being accused of raping a white girl named Mayella Ewell. Harper Lee has Scout’s learn about empathy, courage, and standing against prejudiced ideas from her role models in order to build Scout’s character to prepare for the inmost cave. Scout learns how to empathize with other from her roles models to take the first step out of the inmost cave. Early...
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...A Reflection on my Development of Non-verbal Communication and Empathy In this annotated bibliography, I summarized and critiqued three peer-reviewed articles. I also reflected on how these articles changed my view on how foundational registered nursing skills, such as non-verbal communication and empathy, develop. Chan, Z. Y. (2013). A qualitative study on non-verbal sensitivity in nursing students. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 22, 1941-1950. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2702.2012.04324.x The author found that non-verbal skills, such as appropriate touch, facial expression, body positioning, and voice, improved patient outcomes (Chan, 2013). Chan (2013) used a qualitative research design with 16 nursing students from Hong Kong to determine how the...
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...PYC4805 ASSIGNMENT 02 PYC4805 ASSIGNMENT 02 (691014): PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR IN CHILDREN 1 PYC4805 ASSIGNMENT 02 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION 2. PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR: INFLUENTIAL FACTORS 2.1) CULTURTAL FACTORS 2.2) SOCIALISATION OF PROSOCIAL BEHAVIOUR WITHIN THE FAMILY 2.3) THE CHILD’S INDIVIDUAL CHARACTERISTICS 3. CONCLUSION 4. REFERENCES 5 6 7 8 3 3 4 2 PYC4805 ASSIGNMENT 02 1.) Introduction According to Berk (2013, p. 417) prosocial behaviour can be defined as follows: “Actions that benefit another person without any expectation of reward for the self.” Prosocial development in early childhood is of great importance for promoting positive and healthy relationships later on in life (Scrimgeour, Blandon, Stifter & Buss 2013). In can start emerging within the first two years of life and it includes helpfulness, sharing, comforting etc. (Dunfield, Kuhlmeier, O’Connell & Kelley, 2011). In this assignment some of the factors that have an influence on the prosocial behaviour of young children will be discussed. They are as follows: cultural factors, socialisation of prosocial behaviour within the family, and the individual characteristics of children. These are only 3 of many factors that play a role in the development of prosocial behaviour. 2.) Prosocial behaviour: influential factors. There are a number of theories and perspectives that aim to explain prosocial behaviour. There are philosophical perspectives, psychological theories and empirical literature...
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...Empathy is more than just a characteristic of one's personality; it's a way of life. It's a way of viewing the world through other people’s eyes, and being able to truly understand their struggles and hardships. Although, one must go through a very complex and dramatic process in order to obtain this attitude. Harper Lee's novel To Kill a Mockingbird describes this process. As Daniel Goleman once said, "if you're emotional abilities aren't in hand, if you don't have self– awareness, if you are not able to manage your distressing emotions, if you can't have empathy and have effective relationships, then no matter how smart you are, you are not going to get very far." This quote adequately describes this trait. Empathy, although sometimes difficult...
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...sacrifice was demonstrated through his death, since he was killed for trying to improve the welfare and lives of others (Myers, 2014). Martin Luther’s altruistic behavior was a product of modeling. For instance, Kail and Cavanaugh (2015) explain that King’s pursuit of civil rights and equality for African Americans was significantly influenced by Mohandas Gandhi, a political leader, Henry David Thoreau, an American philosopher, and his father, Dr. martin Luther King Sr. For instance, Martin Luther Sr. was an anti-discrimination activist. Therefore, by observing his father fight for equality and justice for black people, Dr. Martin Jr. imitated the pro-social behavior of his father, hence felt the need to fight for people’s civil rights. Children are more likely to engage in pro-social...
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...elementary school students compassion for people who are homeless. The focus of the material is to encourage children to understand the people and stories behind homelessness in a hope to instil compassion, rather than judgement or fear. Furthermore, the hope of the program is that it encourages children to care deeply for their communities. We created an hour and a half interactive lesson for a Grade 1/2 class at Briar Hill Elementary School with the hope that it would give the children a new perspective on people who do not have homes to live in. The lesson started with us reading the story, The Cardboard Shack Under The Bridge, by Tim Huff, and asking the students many meaningful questions on their interpretations of the pictures and what it means to be homeless. They then rotated around four centres where they got to engage in activities that helped them develop empathy for people who are homeless. Rationale: A classroom that is built around democratic principles will look very different than the average classroom. Often teachers will take on more of the role of dictator than democratic leader which leads to the production of fact wizards as opposed to critical thinkers. In Alison Rheingold’s article titled, Unalienated Recognition as Feature of Democratic Schooling (2012), she says that to teach with democratic principles, “it is necessary to find ways to engage children in practices that foster, rather than diminish, critical thinking and interactions across communities”...
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...The Influence of Affective Empathy and Autism Spectrum Traits on Empathic Accuracy Marije aan het Rot*, Koen Hogenelst Department of Psychology and School of Behavioral and Cognitive Neurosciences, University of Groningen, Groningen, Netherlands Abstract Autism spectrum disorder is characterized by interpersonal deficits and has been associated with limited cognitive empathy, which includes perspective taking, theory of mind, and empathic accuracy (EA). The capacity for affective empathy may also be impaired. In the present study we aimed to determine if EA in normally developing individuals with varying levels of autism spectrum traits is moderated by trait affective empathy. Fifty male and fifty female participants (‘perceivers’) completed the Autism-Spectrum Quotient and the Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale to assess autism spectrum traits and trait affective empathy, respectively. EA was assessed using a Dutch-language version of a previously developed task and involved rating the feelings of others (‘targets’) verbally recounting autobiographical emotional events. Targets varied in trait emotional expressivity, assessed using the Berkeley Expressivity Questionnaire. Perceivers with more autism spectrum traits performed worse on the EA task, particularly when their trait affective empathy was relatively low. Interpersonal deficits in autism spectrum disorder may be partially explained by low cognitive empathy. Further, they might be aggravated by a limited capacity...
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...TIMES article, again about opium in Afghanistan. Just as I was about to sigh in exasperation, I saw the title, “U.S. Troops Leave Widows Jobless”. The article takes a bit of a different view on things. It details the events where soldiers from the United States enter Afghan poppy fields and destroy them which, of course, leaves the owners of the poppy fields void of income. In many cases, widows cannot get another job and they fail to gather enough money to feed the children; the result is starvation. As I was reading the article, I found that I empathised with the widow to the point where I knew that if I were that soldier, I would not be able to destroy those poppy fields. However, would my empathy-borne actions eventually be beneficial? Would they truly be ethical? In 2005, 70% of the acute drug deaths were thanks to opioids. Meanwhile, opium production is still increasing in Afghanistan, up to a 6,400 ton increase in 20014. Thus from this dilemma, I formed the knowledge question, “To what extent can we rely on empathy to make ethical decisions?”. This knowledge question highlights how one should make morally-correct choices in any situation, whether it be at war or debating whether we should donate $5 to the homeless man or not. I will investigate this knowledge question through two areas of knowledge, Ethics, the study of morals, and Human Sciences. Each AOK will be explored through various experts and their WOK. I will conclude my presentation with my own answer to the knowledge...
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...What is a leadership servant one may ask themselves, well let’s take a look in to what it is, “Leadership servant is where one wants to server others” (Greenleaf, K.R., (2002)). When one looks at what a leadership servant role is they will see how it enriches other’s lives, it also helps organization skills, as well as wanting to make the world a better place for others. There are many characteristics that comes with being a great leadership servant when one thinks about what those characteristics are they will find: Empathy, awareness, conceptualization, listening, building communities, stewardship, healing, persuasion, commitment to growth of others, foresight (Northouse, G.P., (2016)). Here are some good explanations of why this makes sense to one’s self,...
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...Consequently, with that being said, of course I had to have Madison’s own psychology teacher concomitant me on this essay journey. Does lack of empathy, play a role? “A lack of an ability to feel empathy and compassion. Not so much deciding not to, but literally not being able to. I think that it’s not just that they don’t feel sadness when someone else gets hurt, it’s that they’re also not feeling a lot of excitement or pleasure. Like their threshold for sort of feeling like a strong emotional charge is way higher than the rest of ours. They have this muted sense of the...
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...ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Throughout the research process, the focus has been to investigate the different aspects of environmental influences on human development among students of UNISEL. During the research process, we have gained a deeper knowledge and understanding on how environmental aspects affect human development. We also discovered that child development not only focuses on one aspect, but also many aspects such as prenatal environment, physical environment, social / cultural environment and emotional environment. We would like to express our utmost gratitude to Mr.Nadraj, our lecturer, for his great guidance, advice and consideration in the process of completing this research on time. His immense contribution and insight have made this project a much more complete one. Also, I would like to extend my appreciation to all who have assisted me in many ways, resulting in this report. The deepest gratitude to all the respondents who were willing to participate in our survey; without their valuable contribution and response, this study would not have been able to be carried out. Thank You! TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................. 3 1.1 Background................................................................................................................. 3 1.2 Purpose.............................................................................................
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...alike for some time: Why do some people achieve far beyond what we might expect of them based on their circumstances and innate abilities, and why do some children thrive in a modem environment that seems intent on preventing them from even surviving? The answer, Goleman says, lies in emotional intelligence. He writes, "My concern is with. . emotional intelligence, abilities such as being able to motivate oneself and persist in the face of frustrations, to control impulses and delay gratification; to regulate one's moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empathize and to hope"(34). Emotional intelligence is further described as a "meta-ability," determining how well we can use whatever other skills we have, including raw intellect (36). The book goes on to explain that it is our ability to successfully manage our emotional lives, and therefore our relationships with others and our view of ourselves, that determines our success in life. Interestingly enough, the book doesn't t focus to any extent on communication per SE, but brings us just to the door of that issue on many occasions, almost as if it is a foregone conclusion that the ability to communicate about one's emotional state, and read others effectively is critical to achieving emotional intelligence. In all of the book 's many pages about empathy, for example, very little air time is given to the fact that one needs to first establish a personal empathetic state by observing and interpreting another's...
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