Character Values and Character Lens. Empathy, Self-knowledge and Self-awareness

1. SELF KNOWLEDGE AND EMPATHY
A Character Value Lens
Tahoma Lewis and Sarah Monda

2. DEFINITIONS
Self-knowledge:
 Self-Knowledge, also called self-awareness, is defined as the ability to understand one’s own
thoughts and feelings (Merriam-Webster). It forms the basis for what we know as empathy.
Without understanding our own feelings and thoughts, we can’t understand or experience the
feelings and thoughts of others.
 Psychologists Crisp and Turner define self-awareness as, “a psychological state in which people
are aware of their traits, feelings and behaviour. Alternately, it can be defined as the realization of
oneself as an individual entity” (Crisp & Turner, 2010).
Empathy:
 Merriam-Webster defines empathy as “the feeling that you understand and share another
person’s experiences and emotion's” (Merriam-Webster). According to Psychology Today,
empathy is defined as having the following attributes: “the experience of understanding another
persons condition form their perspective…known to increase pro-social behaviors”.
 Empathy is the capacity to “feel with rather than feel for” (Sideris, 2010, p. 457) someone in
regard to their emotions or experiences.
 There are two types of empathy. Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand another
person’s perspective. The ability to understand their thoughts in a rational manner. This has
been called “mental perspective taking” (Smith, 2006, p.3). Affective/Emotional empathy is the
emotional response one has to the affective state of other people. It is "an emotional response
that stems from another's emotional state or condition and that is congruent with the other's
emotional state or situation" (Smith, 2006, p. 3). Basically it is the ability to respond emotionally
to another person’s situation or emotions.

3. MAJOR ELEMENTS
Empathy:
 Communication
 Caring
 Understanding
 Relating
 Love
Self-Knowledge:
 Values
 Beliefs
 Goals
 Competencies

4. CLASSROOM
 Cooperative learning: A
system in which children are
grouped into diverse teams
and learn to rely upon one
another for academic
success creates the
opportunity for students to
relate to more kinds of
people (Cotton, 1992, p. 9).
 Peer tutoring: helps to
increase understanding and
empathetic feelings between
students. It also builds the
self-confidence of the tutor
and helps both the tutor and
tutee to understand the
“intrinsic benefits of help
giving” (Cotton, 1992, p. 9).
Cooperative Learning Diagram

5. NOTABLE PEOPLE
Dalai Lama Socrates
Oprah
 “Knowledge can be acquired by a suitable and complete study, no matter what the starting point is. Only
one must know how to 'learn.' What is nearest to us is man; and you are the nearest of all men to
yourself. Begin with the study of yourself; remember the saying 'Know thyself.”
-G.I.Gurdjieff

6. NOTABLE FILMS

7. KEY PROPONENTS IN SELF-AWARENESS AND EMPATHY
 Key theorists behind empathy include
 Edith Stein believed that existence and
therefore empathy was “a world not only of
physical bodies, but also of experiencing
subjects external to us, of whose
experiences we know” (Stein, 1917/1989, p.
5). She codified her theory of empathy in
1917.
 Daniel Batson theorized empathy-altruism,
in which “feeling empathy for the person in
need evokes motivation to help in which
these benefits to self are not the ultimate
goal of helping; they are unintended
consequences.” (Batson & Shaw 1991,
p. 114)
 Carl Rogers played a key role in the
understanding of empathy. “Thus it means
to sense the hurt or the pleasure of another
as he senses it and to perceive the cause
thereof as he perceives them, but without
ever losing the recognition that it is as if I
were hurt or pleased and so forth.” (Rogers,
1975, 2)
 Key theorists behind self-awareness
include:
 John Locke believed “the self is a knowable
entity, not just an illusion.” (Rochat, 2008,
244)
 Rene Descartes, who coined “I think,
therefor I am” believes that self-awareness
can be ‘observed, captured and reflected
upon’ (Rochat, 2008, 244)

8. HISTORICAL TRACES OF SELF-KNOWLEDGE AND EMPATHY
 Deriving from Greek roots, “self-knowledge is often considered the panacea for
wisdom, the light towards an honest and happy life, the universal recipe for truth
and redemption.” (Rochat, 2008, p.243)
 “Plato recounts that for Socrates there was no more important philosophical
endeavor than the pursuit of self-knowledge, particularly its limits.” (Rochat,
2008, p. 243)
 The play Oedipus King by Sophocles focuses on knowing one-self and our
relationship within society

9. SOURCES
Text:
 Batson, C., & Shaw, L. L. (1991). Evidence for Altruism: Toward a Pluralism of Prosocial Motives. Psychological
Inquiry, 2(2), 107.
 Cotton, K. (1992). Developing Empathy in Children and Youth. Portland: Northwest Regional Educational
Laboratory.
 Crisp, R.J. & Turner, R.N. (2010) Essential social psychology. London: Sage Publications.
 Lickona, T. (1991). Educating for Character: How Our Schools Can Teach Respect and Responsibility. New
York: Bantam.
 Rochat, P. (2008). “Know Thyself!...But what, how and why?. In Sani, F. (Ed.) Individual and collective self-
continuity: Psychological perspectives. Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers. Print.
 Rogers, C. R. (1975). Empathic: An unappreciated way of being. The counseling psychologist, 5(2), 2-10.
 Sideris, L. (2010). I See You: Interspecies Empathy and Avatar. Journal for the Study of Religion, Nature, and
Culture, 414-457.
 Smith, A. (2006). Cognitive Empathy and Emotional Empathy in Human Behavior and Evolution. The
Psychological Record(56), 3-21.
 Stein, E., (1989), Zum Problem der Einliihlung [On the Problem of Empathy]. In W. Stein (trans), The Collected
Works of Edith Stein. Retrieved from xa.yimg.com/kq/groups/21823042/1708287023/name/edith+stein.PDF
(original work published 1917).
 "Empathy." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 29 May 2014. http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/empathy
 "Self-knowledge." Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 29 May 2014. http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/self-knowledge
Pictures:
 Cooperative learning diagram:
http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/staffdev/mcdonald_j/downloads/21st/comm/BenefitsOfCL/OverviewOfCoopLr
ng_Benefits.html
 Empathy Diagram: http://drdeborahserani.blogspot.com/2010/10/empathy-cognitive-and-affective.html
 Self-Knowledge Diagram: http://deqsalat.efoliomn.com/Uploads/SC4_full.gif