A Social Work Model of Empathy
157 citations recorded by the source corpus.
This article presents a social work model of empathy that reflects the latest interdisciplinary research findings on empathy. The model reflects the social work commitment to social justice. The three model components are: 1) the affective response to another’s emotions and actions; 2) the cognitive processing of one’s affective response and the other person’s perspective; and 3) the conscious decision-making to take empathic action. Mirrored affective responses are involuntary, while cognitive processing and conscious decision-making are voluntary. The affective component requires healthy, neural pathways to function appropriately and accurately. The cognitive aspects of perspective-taking, self-awareness, and emotion regulation can be practiced and cultivated, particularly through the use of mindfulness techniques. Empathic action requires that we move beyond affective responses and cognitive processing toward utilizing social work values and knowledge to inform our actions. By introducing the proposed model of empathy, we hope it will serve as a catalyst for discussion and future research and development of the model. Key Words: Empathy, Social Empathy, Social Cognitive Neuroscience
Subfields: Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Psychiatry and Mental health, Social Psychology
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/3ea4b8cd0658b041e0c4051615ba4402c183198c
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In Experimental and Cognitive Psychology
In Psychiatry and Mental health
In Social Psychology
Citations in the corpus
- TEACHING EMPATHY: A FRAMEWORK ROOTED IN SOCIAL COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND SOCIAL JUSTICE (2011, background): “aIacoboni (2008); Kaplan & Iacoboni (2006); Gallese & Goldman (1998); Rizzolatti & Craighero (2004) bHoffman (2000) cDavis (1996) dDecety & Moriguchi (2007) eDecety & Jackson (2004) fGerdes & Segal (2009) gSegal (2006, 2007a, 2007b, 2008) hBatson (1991); Batson et al.”
- A Model of Empathy in Engineering as a Core Skill, Practice Orientation, and Professional Way of Being (2017, background): “Extending empathy to action occurs through a specifically conscious process of decision making that is informed by affective responding and cognitive processing (Gerdes & Segal, 2009).”
- Empathy, Sympathy, and Pity: 21st-Century Definitions and Implications for Practice and Research (2011, background): “Social workers have only begun to apply the implications of the new social-cognitive neuroscience on empathy to social work education (Gerdes et al., 2011) and practice (Gerdes & Segal, 2009).”