Transcript
Page 1: Empathic Anger, Service Learning, and Civic Education

EMPATHIC ANGER, SERVICE LEARNING, & CIVIC ENGAGEMENT

Ashley Hedgepath and Robert Bringle, Appalachian State UniversityPatti Clayton, PHC Ventures and UNC Greensboro

2014 PACE ConferenceFebruary 5, 2014University of North Carolina Wilmington

Page 2: Empathic Anger, Service Learning, and Civic Education

EMPATHY AND SERVICE LEARNING

Students who engaged in SL...• Showed greater empathy and cognitive complexity than comparison groups (Courneya, 1994)• Reported greater acceptance of cultural diversity (Melchoir, 1999; Berkas, 1997)•Reported higher postproject empathy scores compared to other students (Lundy, 2007)•Were significantly more likely to express empathy in their reflective writing than the students who did not participate in SL (Wilson, 2011)

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WHY SERVICE-LEARNING IMPROVES EMPATHY

Students break the barriers between themselves and the people with different needs, diversity of culture, and opportunities.

They don't limit themselves to feeling and thinking about empathy only.

Instead, they act on it, and this action allows empathy to integrate as a real

attitude.

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Observation

Empathic Distress

Sympathetic Distress

Empathic Feeling of Injustice

Empathic Anger

Guilt over Inaction

Empathy: an individual’s (a)

emotional reaction that is congruent with another person’s feelings; and (b) concern for the welfare of that person (e.g., Hoffman, 2000; Batson et al., 1997; Eisenberg, 1986; Krebs, 1975; Stotland, 1969)

HOW EMPATHY IS SHAPED BY CAUSAL ATTRIBUTION

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EMPATHIC ANGER

Trait Empathic Anger (TEA) Scale (Vitaglione &

Barnett, 2003)

“I get angry when a friend of mine is hurt by someone else.”

“I feel angry for other people when they have been victimized by others.”

Findings:

Empathic anger is unique from empathy as sadness

Reliable effects of empathic anger on prosocial desires

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METHODS

Participants: N = 152 students Questionnaire:REA—Hedgepath, Wall, & BringleVolunteer Functions Inventory: Interpersonal Reactivity Index (Empathy) – Davis

Social Dominance Orientation – Pratto et al.

Aggression questionnaire – Beck & Perry

Ashley Hedgepath
Should I add a purpose slide before this one? It just seems a bit sudden to go straight in to the methods
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MEASUREMENT

The Revised Empathic Anger (REA) Scale

8-item self-report measure

“My anger towards inequality has motivated me to take action against it.”

“Problems like social injustice make me mad, so I volunteer to help resolve them.”

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A civic-minded graduate is one who

a)is formally educated and

b)has the capacity and orientation to work with others

c)in a democratic way

d)to improve the community

DEFINITION OF A CIVIC MINDED GRADUATE

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MEASUREMENTS

CMG Scale: 30-item self-report measure of knowledge, skills, dispositions, and behavioral intentions

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MEASUREMENTS

• transfer of resources to those in need

Charity

• working together to address a problem

Project

• empowering the disenfranchised to change the system

Social Change

Morton’s Types of Service

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MEASUREMENT

Volunteer Functions Inventory (VFI): self-report measure examining the functional motives for volunteering (Clary & Snyder)

Protective Motives

• a way of protecting the ego from the difficulties of life

Values

• a way to express ones altruistic and humanitarian values

Career

• a way to improve career prospects

Social

• a way to develop and strengthen social ties

Understanding

• a way to gain knowledge, skills, and abilities

Enhancement

• a way to help the ego grow and develop

Ashley Hedgepath
Page 12: Empathic Anger, Service Learning, and Civic Education

MEASUREMENTS

Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis, 1983): measure of dispositional empathy that takes the notion that empathy consists of a set of separate but related constructs. 

the tendency to spontaneously adopt the psychological point of view of others

Perspective Taking

Tendency to transpose themselves imaginatively into the feelings and actions of fictitious characters in books, movies, and plays

Fantasy

"other-oriented" feelings of sympathy and concern for unfortunate others

Empathic Concern

"self-oriented" feelings of personal anxiety and unease in tense interpersonal settings)

Personal Distress

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MEASUREMENTS

Social Dominance Orientation (SDO) Scale: measure of individual differences in levels of group-based discrimination (Pratto et al.)

“Some groups of people are simply inferior to other groups.”

“It’s OK if some groups have more of a chance in life than others.”

“To get ahead in life, it is sometimes necessary to step on other groups.”

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MEASUREMENTS

Aggression: measure of physical aggression, verbal aggression, anger and hostility (Buss & Perry)

Physical Aggressio

n• Given

enough provocation, I may hit another person.

Verbal Aggresion

• I often find myself disagreeing with people

Angry Aggressio

n• I have

trouble controlling my temper.

Hostility

• I am suspicious of overly friendly strangers

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RESULTS(Wall, Hedgepath, & Bringle, 2013)

CorrelationsPositive Negative

Empathy subscales (IRI)

Aggression

Altruism Social Dominance Orientation

Past Involvement

w/ Community Orgs

The CMG Scale

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CORRELATIONS OF REA WITH MORTON’S TYPES OF SERVICE

Charity/ Direct Service

.14Projects .26*Social Change/ Advocacy

.53**

.14

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IMPLICATIONS

A new perspective on a motive for service that has not been in the service learning literature.

Although based on anger, it is distinct from aggressive responses

Empathic anger is clearly aligned with concern for others

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“It is not enough for people to be angry. […] The

supreme task is to organize and unite people so that their anger

becomes a transforming

force.”-Dr. Martin Luther King,

Jr.

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QUESTIONS ABOUT EMPATHIC ANGER IN TEACHING

Have you seen empathic anger in your work with students?

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QUESTIONS ABOUT EMPATHIC ANGER IN TEACHINGShould empathic anger

be an educational objective in a service learning course?a)If so, how can it be

developed?

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QUESTIONS ABOUT EMPATHIC ANGER IN TEACHINGHow should courses be

designed to develop empathic anger?

How should reflection be structured for empathic anger?

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DEVELOPING EMPATHIC ANGER

Reflections

Community Partners

Placement Documentaries

Music

Key Readings

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FUTURE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Anger is produced when goals are threatened, but the threat can be overcome (Mackeun et al., 2010)If the threat is perceived as too large to reasonably overcome, the result is often motivational ambivalence (Cameron & Payne, 2009)

So…

What is the relationship between self-efficacy and the arousal of empathic anger?How can we help students feel more efficacious?

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FUTURE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What is the relationship between empathic anger and prosocial behavior (beyond behavioral intention or self-reports)?

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FUTURE RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What is the role of causal attributions in the arousal of empathic anger on an intergroup level?