Enhancing Advising through Empathy Concepts

1. Empathy and Advising:Integrating concepts to enhance the advising experienceRobert Pettay, PhDDepartment of KinesiologyKansas State University

2. Objectives for this session - Define the concept of empathy - Examine and apply the habits of empathetic people

3. The concept of advising is derived from the word advice which is defined as offering suggestions about the best course of action to someone. Empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. An effective advisor is able to integrate these concepts and by being an empathetic listener, work with the student to address and resolve the real issues and problems of the student. This session will address and apply the underlying principles of empathy by defining empathy and the importance of empathy, examining the habits of empathic people, and engaging in empathy based activities. Analyses & Results

4. Advising - Advisor What is Academic Advising? An on-going, intentional, educational partnership dedicated to student academic success Advised - Considered or thought out; resulting from deliberation; Informed, appraised or made aware To offer advice; to counsel; to recommend a course of action What are we and what do we want to be?

5. Empathy is the art of stepping imaginatively into the shoes of another person, understanding their feelings and perspectives and using that understanding to guide your actions The ability to understand and share the feelings of others

6. Empathy Ability to understand people from their frame of reference, rather than your own. Think with rather than about your client Verbal means of conveying empathy - show desire to comprehend - discuss what is important to the client - use verbal messages that refer to the clients feelings

7. Empathy matters? Conflict resolution Connection Awareness Reduces bullying, prejudice, racism Increases the will of individuals to help others in need A building block for a better society Gordon (2012)

8. Empathy • Pay attention, physically and mentally, to what's happening. • Listen carefully, and note the key words and phrases that people use. • Respond encouragingly to the central message. • Be flexible – prepare to change direction as the other person's thoughts and feelings also change. • Look for cues that you're on target.

9. Crookston (1972) Developmental advising is concerned not only with a specific personal or vocational decision but also with facilitating the student’s rational processes, environmental and interpersonal interactions, behavioral awareness, and problem-solving, decision-making, and evaluating skills (p.5)

10. Developmental Advising • Acknowledges the individuality of students • Helps them integrate life, career, and educational goals • Connects curricular and co-curricular aspects of their educational experiences • Provides scaffolding that gives them opportunities to practice decision-making and problem solving skills • (Smith & Allen, 2006)

11. Subjective and Objective Subjective – existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought Objective- not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased

12. Six Habits of Highly Empathetic People Habit 1: Switch on your Empathetic Brain Habit 2: Make the Imaginative Leap Habit 3: Seek Experiential Adventures Habit 4: Practice the Craft of Conversation Habit 5: Travel in your Armchair Habit 6: Inspire a Revolution Empathy: Why it Matters and How to Get it Roman Krznaric (2014)

13. Habit 1 – Switch on your empathetic brain • Shifting our mental frameworks to recognize that empathy is at the core of human nature and that it can be expanded throughout our lives. • The capacity to empathize is part of our genetic inheritance • Empathy can be expanded throughout our lifetimes

14. Case – Empathy Session • Case : Michael is your advisee. Michael is a sophomore student who is struggling to keep his grade point average above the required point to avoid dismissal from school. Michael is contracted to visit with you bi-weekly to monitor his progress in the current semester. Michael was 10 minutes late to the first meeting, missed the second meeting emailing you two days later, and did not show up for the meeting you had scheduled today. • Perspective-taking has proved effective in introducing empathy not only for total strangers, but for members of stigmatized groups • Batson et al. (1997)

15. Cognitive empathy : perspective taking or making an imaginative leap and recognizing that other people have different tastes, experiences, or world views than our own Affective empathy: sharing or mirroring another person’s emotions.

16. Habit 2 – Make the imaginative leap • Making the conscious effort to step into other people’s shoes, including those of our enemies – to acknowledge their humanity, individuality, and perspectives • Barriers to empathy • Prejudice – avoid labels • Authority – tendency to obey authority • Distance – spatial distance, social distance, temporal distance • Denial – state of denial • The solution? • Humanize the “Other” – not an advisee, but a person

17. Questions to ask ourselves about the assumptions we make about people What assumptions do you think people make about the kind of person you are? How accurate are they? Think of three instances when you were mistaken in your assumptions and judgments about others. What were the consequences of your error, and why did it matter? How often do you make assumptions, and about which kinds of people? The Platinum rule? Do unto others as they would have you do unto them Fletcher (1966)

18. Habit 3 – Seek Experiential Adventures • Exploring lives and cultures that contrast with our own through direct immersion, empathetic journeying, and social cooperation • Immersion – A day in the life of a college student • Exploration • Cooperation • Empathy is learned by stepping into the world of experience

19. Habit 4 – Practice the Craft of Conversation • Fostering curiosity about strangers and radical listening and taking off our emotional masks • Six qualities • Curiosity about strangers – what we don’t know • Radical listening • Taking off their masks – sharing yourself • Concern for others • Creative spirit – What was the most surprising thing that happened to you this week? • Sheer courage

20. Radical Listening • Presence – emptying your faculties and listening to the other person with your whole being • Consciously focus on identifying the other person’s feelings • Make a concerted effort to understand their needs • * So you are saying • * What I am hearing is • * It sounds like you are feeling

21. Empathetic people view conversation as a craft • A conversational Entrée • What, in your experience are the best and worst ways of being good? • What would you like to change about your philosophy of love? • How have your ambitions affected your humanity • Do you feel more at home in the past the present, or the future? • Are you better at laughing or forgetting? • What is your personal history of self-confidence and what has it taught you? • What is your ideal way of growing old, and who might help you do it?

22. Habit 5 – Travel in your armchair • Transporting ourselves into other people’s minds with the help of art, literature, film, and online social networks. • An Empathy Library • Down and out in Paris and London (Orwell) • The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Bauby) • The Age of Empathy: Nature’s Lessons for a Kinder Society (de Waal) • Black Like Me (Griffin) • White Teeth (Smith) • Schindler’s List • Love, Hate and Everything in Between • Start Empathy (www.startempathy.org) • Krznaric (2014) • What would be in your empathy library?

23. Habit 6 – Inspire a Revolution Generating Empathy on a mass scale to create social change and extending our empathy skills to embrace the natural world An empathy workshop for your students? If not you, who?

24. A menu for conversation • Habit 1: Switch on your empathetic brain • How did experiences in your childhood and youth shape your capacity to empathize? • Habit 2: Make the imaginative leap • Think of a time when you really tried to step into somebody else’s shoes. What difference did it make? • Habit 3: Seek experiential adventures • What would be your ideal vacation project for immersing yourself in the life of someone from a different cultural or socioeconomic background from your own? • Habit 4: Practice the craft of conversation • What has been the most surprising and stimulating conversation you have ever had with a stranger? • Habit 5: Travel in your armchair • How is digital culture affecting your personality-your mind, character, and relationships? Would a digital diet help or hinder your ability to empathize? • Habit 6: Inspire a Revolution • What single change could you make in your life to deepen your empathetic connection with the natural world?

25. In Conclusion Thank You

26. References Batson, B.C., Sager, K., Garst, E. Kang, M., Rubchinsky, K., & Dawson, K. (1997). Is empathy-induced helping due to self-other merging. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(3). Crookston, B.B. (1972). A developmental view of academic advising as teaching. Journal of College Student Personnel, 13, 12-17. Fletcher, J. (1966). Situation Ethics: The New Morality, Louisville KY: Westminster John Knox Press Gordon, M. (2012). Roots of Empathy, http://www.rootsofempathy.org Krznaric, R (2014). Empathy, New York: Perigree Publishing. Smith, C.L. & Allen, J.M. (Spring, 2006). Essential functions of academic advising : What students want and get. The Journal of the National Academic Advising Association, 26(1).56-66.