Effects of Bystander's Emotional Empathy and Social Problem-Solving Skills on Defending Behaviors Against Bullying in Elementary School: Mediated Through Peer Acceptance

Objectives: Many children are exposed to their peers being bullied, which negatively impacts individuals and the society as a whole. We investigated the effects of elementary school children’s emotional empathy and social problem-solving skills on their defending behaviors. We evaluated the direct and indirect effects of these personal characteristics, mediated through their perceived peer acceptance among classmates. Gender differences were also tested.Methods: The study participants were 386 fourth- and fifth-graders (M = 10.4 yrs.) from six elementary schools in the metropolitan Seoul area of South Korea. Children’s perceived social acceptance, emotional empathy, and problem-solving skills were measured using self-reported questionnaires. Defending behavior was measured using peer nomination. To analyze the data, descriptive statistics and structural equation modeling were conducted using SPSS 21.0 and MPLUS 6.12.Results: Bystanders‘ emotional empathy and social problem-solving skills had significant effects on defending behaviors. Social problem-solving skills directly affected defending behaviors of boys and girls. Girls’ peer acceptance mediated both emotional empathy and social problem-solving skills for defending behaviors, while no mediation effect was found in boys.Conclusion: For children, feeling accepted by classmates is important for defending bullied peers. For girls, peer acceptance magnifies their socio-emotional and socio-cognitive skills, empowering them to defend the bullied peers. However, for boys, having competent socio-cognitive skills alone is sufficient. Based on this study’s findings, it is recommended that interventions are needed to enhance bystanders’ emotional empathy and social problem-solving skills, and thereby, empowering them to be competent defenders against school bullying.

The Role of Service Provider’s Rapport Behavior on Customers’ Empathy

The study is intended to explore the validity of the component system of the rapport behavior of service providers. The purpose of this study was to understand how the components of the rapport behavior of service providers affect rational and emotional empathy. This study is intended to understand the relationship between rational and emotional empathy and customer satisfaction and the effect of customer satisfaction on revisit intentions. The main purpose was to identify the moderating effect of perceived authenticity on the causal relationship between rapport behavior, empathy, and customer satisfaction and revisit intentions. The sampling method used in this study was the judgment sampling, which is a method in which the researcher selects those study subjects that are thought by the researcher to be the most suitable samples for the purpose of the study. The total questionnaire period was a total of three months, from March 15 to May 15, 2020. The total number of valid samples was 1668. Uncommonly attentive behavior, courteous behavior, information-sharing, and connecting behavior, which are components of the rapport behaviors of service providers, were found to have positive effects on rational empathy with the service provider, but common grounding behavior, which is also a component of the rapport behaviors of service providers, was found to have no statistically significant effect on rational empathy with service providers. The rapport behaviors of service providers are judged to play an important role in maintaining and developing strong ties through long-term and continuous interactions with customers.

THE RELATIONSHIP OF PARENTAL EMPATHY WITH THE PECULIARITIES OF RAISING PRESCHOOL CHILDREN

Purpose. The article is devoted to the study of parental empathy and the identification of the relationship between this phenomenon and the peculiarities of raising children at the age period from 3 to 6 years. The article considers the essence and mechanisms of empathy phenomenon. It was found that the phenomenon of empathy has been studied by many scientists from different angles, creating their own concepts of understanding this phenomenon and its mechanisms, while emphasizing its importance. The phenomenon of empathy was considered as an emotional sensitivity to another, as a perception of the inner world of another person, as a penetration into the individual identity of the object of communication without losing understanding of oneself. The main mechanisms of empathy included decentralization, interpretation, emotional contagion, and identification. The role of parental empathy in relationships and interactions with the child that affect the child's development was demonstrated.Methods. An empirical study was organized and conducted based on a sample of 65 mothers and fathers aged 25 to 44 living in Ukraine who have their first or only child aged 3 to 6. Three psychodiagnostic methods were used to implement the study, namely: questionnaire of emotional empathy by A. Megrabyan and N. Epstein (1975), adapted by Yu.M. Orlov and Yu.N. Emelyanov; multifactor questionnaire by M. Davis (1980), adapted by T. Karyagina, N. Budagovskaya and S. Dubrovskaya (2013); questionnaire of emotional relations in the family by O. Zakharova (1996). Psychometric verification of the reliability and representativeness of the selected methods for empirical research was conducted.Results. The level of parents’ empathy and peculiarities of interaction with the child were determined, correlation analysis with interpretation of the obtained results was carried out. It has been proven that the higher the level of emotional empathy in parents, the higher the level of emotional intimacy with the child.Conclusions. It was found that parental emapthy is a necessary condition for positive emotional and educational interaction with the child, which has a significant impact on the child's development, communication and building relationships with other people in the future.Key words: empathy, parents, family upbringing, children, correlation, relationships. Мета. Мета статті –дослідити емпатію батьків та виявити зв’язок між даною властивістю та особливос-тями виховання дітей віком від 3 до 6 років. У статті розглянуто питання сутності та механізмів феноменів емпатії. З’ясовано, що феномен емпатії досліджувало багато вчених з різних боків, створюючи власні концепції розуміння даного феномену та його механізмів, при цьому підкреслюючи його важливість. Феномен емпатії розглянуто як емоційну чуйність до іншого, як сприйняття внутрішнього світу іншої людини, як проникнення в індивідуальну своєрідність особистості об’єкта спілкування без втрати розуміння самого себе. До основних механізмів емпатії віднесено децентрацію, інтерпретацію, емоційне зараження та ідентифікацію. Розглянуто роль емпатії батьків у стосунках та взаємодії з дитиною, які впливають на розвиток дитини.Організовано та проведено емпіричне дослідження, яке базувалось на вибірці з 65-ти матерів та батьків віком від 25 до 44 років, які проживають в Україні та мають першу або єдину дитину віком від 3 до 6 років. Методи. Для реалізації дослідження було використано три психодіагностичні методики, а саме: опитувальник емоційної емпатії А. Меграбяна та Н. Епштейна, 1975 р., в адаптації Ю.М. Орлова та Ю.М. Ємельянова; багатофакторний опитувальник М. Девіса, 1980 р., в адаптації Т.Д. Карягіної, Н.А. Будаговської та С.В. Дубровської, 2013 р.; опитувальник емоційних відносин у сім’ї О.І. Захарової 1996 р. Проведена психометрична перевірка надійності й репрезентативності вибраних методик для емпіричного дослідження.Результати. Визначено рівень емпатії батьків та особливостей взаємодії з дитиною, проведено кореляційний аналіз з інтерпретацією отриманих результатів. Встановлено, що більшість батьків мають середній рівень емпатії, якого цілком досить для гармонійного виховання дитини. Доведено, що чим вищий рівень емоційної емпатії у батьків, тим вищий рівень емоційної близькості з дитиною. Висновки. Встановлено, що емпатія батьків є необхідною умовою позитивної емоційної і виховної взаємодії з дитиною, яка має значний вплив на розвиток дитини, її комунікацію та побудову стосунків з іншими людьми в майбутньому.Ключові слова: емпатія, батьки, сімейне виховання, стосунки, кореляція.

The neural correlates of grandmaternal caregiving

In many societies, grandmothers are important caregivers, and grandmaternal investment is often associated with improved grandchild well-being. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first study to examine grandmaternal brain function. We recruited 50 grandmothers with at least one biological grandchild between 3 and 12 years old. Brain function was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging as grandmothers viewed pictures of their grandchild, an unknown child, the same-sex parent of the grandchild, and an unknown adult. Grandmothers also completed questionnaires to measure their degree of involvement with and attachment to their grandchild. After controlling for age and familiarity of stimuli, viewing grandchild pictures activated areas involved with emotional empathy (insula and secondary somatosensory cortex) and movement (motor cortex and supplementary motor area). Grandmothers who more strongly activated areas involved with cognitive empathy (temporo-parietal junction and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex) when viewing pictures of the grandchild desired greater involvement in caring for the grandchild. Finally, compared with results from an earlier study of fathers, grandmothers more strongly activated regions involved with emotional empathy (dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, insula and secondary somatosensory cortex), and motivation (nucleus accumbens, ventral pallidum and caudate nucleus). All in all, our findings suggest that emotional empathy may be a key component of grandmaternal responses to their grandchildren.

Virtuālā realitāte pret bulingu jauniešu vidū. Imersīvo mediju izteiksmes līdzekļi psihosociālajā izglītībā

Within the framework of the international project “Virtual Reality As a Tool for Countering Bullying Amongst Youth” – “VR not bullies” – the author, colleagues, and partners created a cycle of 6 workshops for bullying prevention where virtual reality (VR) videos are used as a tool. The aim of the project was to promote empathy for bullying victims, understand the causes of bullying, and demonstrate examples of positive behavior. As part of the “VR not bullies” project and in this article, the author has sought answers to questions about what technological and artistic means of expression to use to model empathic responses in viewers; analysis of literature and case studies (including self-produced material) have been applied. Short VR videos are a convenient technology to use when working with young people and working in groups. Although it is not a cheap method, it allows you to look at situations that would otherwise be unavailable for geographical, financial, or other reasons. Short VR videos are a fast and effective medium to promote emotional empathy and other perspectives, and their inherent interactivity stimulates young people’s interest and attention. However, more traditional methods, such as reading stories or role-plays with in-depth, long-term involvement, may be more effective in building competitive empathy and understanding.

Impaired Cognitive Empathy in Outpatients with Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background. In recent years, a growing number of researchers showed significant interest in psychological and social interventions to manage chronic musculoskeletal (MSK) pain. Cognitive and emotional empathy is an attractive and valuable sociopsychological factor that may provide protection and resilience against chronic MSK pain. However, its effect on outpatients remains underexplored. Objective. To compare the empathy ability between chronic MSK pain outpatients and healthy controls and explore the relationship between cognitive/emotional empathy and chronic pain. Methods. Patients with chronic MSK pain ( n = 22 ) and healthy controls ( n = 26 ) completed the pain assessment and empathy ability task, utilizing a multidimensional empathy assessment tool with satisfactory reliability and validity (i.e., the Chinese version of the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET-C)). Results. The data indicated that the chronic MSK pain outpatients had impaired cognitive empathy (i.e., lower squared cognitive empathy accuracy: Student’s t = − 2.119 , P = 0.040 , and longer task completion time: Student’s t = 3.382 , P = 0.002 ) compared to healthy controls, and cognitive empathy was negatively correlated with pain intensity ( r = − 0.614 , P = 0.002 ). Further, the impaired cognitive empathy was present in identifying positive, but not negative emotions. Conclusion. These results indicate that chronic MSK pain is associated with impaired empathy ability. Our studies contribute to offering a potential direction for developing psychosocial interventions to treat chronic MSK pain.

No Less of a Man: Inducing Empathy to Reduce Male Rape Myth Acceptance

Male sexual assault is an understudied area. Interventions aimed at reducing negative attitudes toward male survivors have received relatively little attention in the field of sexual assault and violence. This may be related to underreported or insufficient data on male survivors or possibly the acceptance of male rape myths. The current research examines the effect of a hypothetical male sexual assault survivor story and empathy writing task on changes in male rape myth acceptance (MRMA) among U.S. men and women ( N = 95). Further, the researchers sought to understand the differences between men and women in MRMA change scores and state emotional empathy for the hypothetical survivor after the empathy induction. Finally, the researchers examined whether state emotional empathy would predict reductions in MRMA and whether participant sex would predict state emotional empathy for the hypothetical survivor after accounting for knowing a male survivor and preinduction MRMA. The results indicated that both men and women experienced significant decreases in MRMA postinduction, and men and women experienced similar levels of change. Additionally, state emotional empathy and preinduction MRMA were the only significant predictors of change scores. Although women reported higher state emotional empathy for the hypothetical survivor, sex was not a significant predictor of state emotional empathy after accounting for personally knowing a male survivor and preinduction MRMA. This research fills a gap in the literature by identifying men’s stories of sexual assault and empathy writing as potential methods to reduce MRMA.

Empathy is the ability of a medical worker affecting the level of patient satisfaction with medical care

The aim of the study is to determine the role of empathy of medical workers in medical and surgical departments in patient satisfaction with medical care. Results. Therapists are characterized by emotional empathy and the ability to identify with the patient; surgeons are characterized by a rational component of empathic experience. Conclusion. Patient satisfaction with the provision of medical care reveals a dependence on the level of empathy of medical professionals with a therapeutic profile, but does not depend on the ability to empathize with medical professionals of a surgical profile.