The discourse dynamics of empathy:initial findings from a focus group discussion

Lynne Cameron and Robert MaslenThe Open University

Empathy

Imagining what it is like to be someone other than yourself is at the core of our humanity. It is the essence of compassion, and it is the beginning of morality.

Ian McEwan, The Guardian, 15th September, 2001

Living with Uncertainty: Metaphor and the dynamics of empathy in discourse Funded by ESRC/AHRC Opening up possibilities for alternative

responses to uncertainty Research Fellowship with linked project

activities Phase 1: Perceptions of other people in times

of threat: Empathy and metaphor in focus group discussions

Approaches to empathy

Philosophy (e.g. Gadamer, 1982)

Psychotherapy (Wynn and Wynn, 2006)

Medicine (Halpern, 2007)

Neuroscience (Gallese, 2003, 2005; Iacoboni, 2005; Xu et al, 2009)

Psychology (Vorauer and Sasaki, 2009)

Literature and the arts (Harrison, 2008)

Conflict resolution, post-conflict reconciliation (Halpern and Weinstein, 2004)

Halpern and Weinstein (2004)

Development of empathy has three aspects Commonality through identification with Other Curiosity “imagining and seeking to understand the

perspective of another person” (p. 568)

Working definition

Emotional empathy Perspective taking Moral/ethical positioning Opening access to empathy

Research Question

How do focus groups use metaphor and other language strategies to construct, negotiate and resist empathy in respect of other social groups?

Data 12 focus groups with members of the public

Total participants: 96

Socio-economic status: AB = professional, skilled jobs C1/C2 = manual, semi- or unskilled jobs

AB

MenAB

WomenC1/C2

Men

C1/C2

WomenMuslim

MenMuslim Women

Total

Leeds 8 8 8 8 8 8 48

London 8 8 8 8 8 8 48

Metaphor Analysis

Transcription of audio recording to intonation units (Chafe, 1994; du Bois et al, 1993).

Identification of linguistic metaphor vehicles (Cameron, 2003) .. if they were living in some sort of stability, I would say it’s a flaw in the system

12,905 linguistic metaphors. Finding systematicity: constructing groups of

connected metaphors

Identifying systematic metaphorsTHE RISK OF TERRORISM IS A GAME OF CHANCEPEOPLE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER OUTCOMES

we get caught up in a poker game (London AB Men)

they will play the bluff (London AB Men)

the odds are very high (Leeds Muslim Women)

if your number’s up (London AB Men)

pawns in a game (Leeds CD Men)

Group differences

Men make more use than Women of gaming metaphors to talk about the risks of terrorism. ***

Muslim Men make much less use than non-Muslim Men. ***

Muslim Women make little or no use of these. **

Terry if they were that brave, .. surely they'd say <Q right, .. this is our team, .. that's your team, … crack on Q> []xx XXTerry but they don't,

.. because they hide in the woodwork.xx mm.xx mm.Finn well who's to --

who's -- who's <X to draw up X> the teams?

.. who's to say, which is the -- which is on -- who's on which team? (Cameron et al, 2009)

Building on the metaphor analysis

Adding deictic metaphors (here/there, this/that)

it’s not that these groups were not there,

they were there all the time,

they were there here in --

in England also.

Building on the metaphor analysis

SOCIAL LANDSCAPE metaphors Across previous vehicle groupings Landscape related Topics: social life, social groups

terrorism to me it’s a sneaky way

(the government is) moving away from the situation,

Other language strategies related to empathy across social groups

Explicit expression of empathy Perspective taking Narratives Scenarios Labelling Reference shifting

Findings (Muslim men in London)

101 scenarios and narratives 60% included perspective taking 160 instances of perspective taking Most perspective taking in or related to

scenarios and narratives Very few explicit expressions of empathy

Whose perspective?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Am

eric

ans

asyl

um s

eeke

rs

ever

ybod

y

fam

ily FG

free

dom

figh

ters

gove

rnm

ent a

nd s

s

inno

cent

Iris

h

inve

stig

ator

s

Mus

lim s

ub-g

roup

s

med

ia

mod

erat

or

ordi

nary

peo

ple

othe

r

own

colo

ur

own

gene

ratio

n

own

grou

p

own

grou

p (c

hild

)

own

grou

p (y

oung

)

peac

e-lo

ving

HB

raci

sts

soci

ety

terr

oris

ts

the

Wes

t

vict

ims

of s

tate

terr

oris

m

vict

ims

of te

rror

ism

whi

te

Labels

Individual people (13) Airey Neave, Bin Laden, Blair My children, my son

Labels

Groups (99) BNP, CIA, Home Office, Heads of State French, Iraqi, Pakistani, British Muslim, Hindu British Muslim, white Muslim, non-Muslim Criminals, bullies, skinheads, racists Joe Bloggs, that guy, any other British youngster,

the average bod

Labels

‘Social markers’ (19) Beards – clean-shaven, brown skin, cap, hijab,

shalwar kameez, rucksack, veil

Scenariomy children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened.

that suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.

..but now they particularly feel it.

..so that,

..age of innocence,

has suddenly.. disappeared.

Codamy children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened.

that suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.

..but now they particularly feel it.

..so that,

..age of innocence,

has suddenly.. disappeared.

Labellingmy children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened.

that suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster...but now they particularly feel it.

..so that,

..age of innocence,

has suddenly.. disappeared.

Metaphorsmy children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened.

that suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.

..but now they particularly feel it.

..so that,

..age of innocence, has suddenly.. disappeared.

Metaphors – social landscapemy children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened. s-lthat suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.

..but now they particularly feel it.

..so that,

..age of innocence, has suddenly.. disappeared. s-l

Perspective takingmy children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened.

that suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.

..but now they particularly feel it.

..so that,

..age of innocence,

has suddenly.. disappeared.

Empathymy children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened.

that suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.

..but now they particularly feel it.

..so that,

..age of innocence,

has suddenly.. disappeared.

my children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened.

that suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.

..but now they particularly feel it.

..so that,

..age of innocence,

has suddenly.. disappeared.

my children suddenly have realised,

that,

..not only they are British,

..they are British Muslims.

.. that is ..what has happened. s-l that suddenly they have realised,

<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.

..until now,

they were living,

… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster...but now they particularly feel it...so that,

..age of innocence,

has suddenly.. disappeared. s-l

Closing remarks

Methods promising route to answering research question

Further work Apply to remaining 11 groups Compare findings Connect empirical findings to theoretical

model of empathy

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discourse transcription. In Jane A. Edwards & Martin D. Lampert, eds., Talking data: Transcription and coding in discourse research. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. 45-89.

Gadamer, H. (1982) Truth and Method. New York: Crossroad. Gallese V. (2003) The roots of empathy: The shared manifold hypothesis and the neural basis of

intersubjectivity. Psychopatology, Vol. 36, No. 4, 171-180, 2003. Gallese V. (2005) Embodied simulation: from neurons to phenomenal experience.

Phenomenology and the Cognitive Sciences, 4:23–48. Halpern, J. (2007) Empathy and patient physician conflicts. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 22/5,

696-700. Halpern, J. and Weinstein, H. (2004) Rehumanising the other: empathy and reconciliation. Human Rights

Quarterly, 26, 561-583. Harrison, M. (2008). The paradox of fiction and the ethics of empathy: Reconceiving dickens's realism.

Narrative 16(3), 256-278. Iacoboni, M. (2005) Neural mechanisms of imitation, Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 15:632-637 (2005). Vorauer, J. D., & Sasaki, S. J. (2009). Helpful only in the abstract? Ironic effects of empathy in intergroup

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