Ethnocultural empathy
Encyclopedia
Ethnocultural empathy
refers to the understanding of feeling
s of individuals that are ethnically and/or culturally different from ones’ self. This concept casts doubts on global empathy, which assumes that empathy is “feeling in oneself the feelings of others” and is not specifically targeting any one group (e.g. age, gender, and ethnicity) or context. Ethnocultural empathy, on the other hand, assumes that empathy toward others probably increases if the other is similar to oneself in terms of ethnicity, gender
, age
, or cultural
background.
ability of taking the role or perspective of another person and/or an emotional response to another person with the same emotional display. As a part of personal traits, empathy has been established as relatively stable and consistent within a certain time period. However, increasing research found that people usually hold different levels of empathy toward different individuals based on perceived psychological similarity
. Two primary factors influencing the psychological similarity are ethnics
and culture
. Particularly, people usually feel more empathetic towards individuals who are in the same ethnic/cultural groups as they are than those who are not.
Quintana defined ethnic perspective taking as a cognitive–developmental ability that could be reached as an individual proceeds through developmental life stages. This development contains five stages of ethnic perspective-taking ability, including (1) physicalistic and observable perspective, (2) literal perspective, (3) non-literal and social perspective, (4) group perspective and (5) multicultural perspective of ethnicity. First, children begin to establish their ethnic identity
by distinguishing themselves from other ethnic groups based on physical features. Once children understand the physical differences with other groups, they then are able to become aware of the perspectives, attitude
s, experience
s shared by other ethnic groups, and finally develop the ability to take the perspective of other ethnic groups.
Ridley and Lingle have defined cultural empathy as a “learned ability” which is composed of three subordinate processes: cognitive, affective, and communicative
. Cognitive process can b e understood as a cultural perspective-taking and cultural self–other differentiation. Affective process includes vicarious
affect and the expressive concern. Communicative process includes probing for insight and conveying accurate understanding.
Based on the ethnic perspective of perception and culture difference of empathy, Wang and his colleague posed the concept “ethnocultural empathy.” Although this is a new concept, many previous research had addressed similar or related constructs although never formally terms it. Thus, concepts such as cultural empathy, empathetic multicultural awareness, ethnic perspective taking are usually used interchangeably with “ethnocultural empathy”.
empathy, empathic emotion
s, and the communication
of those two.
Intellectual empathy is the ability to understand a racially or ethnically different person’s thinking and/or feeling. It is also the ability to perceive the world as the other person does; that is, racial or ethnic perspective taking.
The empathic emotions component of ethnocultural empathy is attention
to the feeling of a person or persons from another ethnocultural group to the degree that one is able to feel the other’s emotional condition from the point of view of that person’s racial or ethnic culture. In addition, it refers to a person’s emotional response to the emotional display of a person or persons from another ethnocultural group.
The communicative empathy component is the expression of ethnocultural empathic thoughts (intellectual empathy) and feelings (empathic emotions) toward members of racial and ethnic groups different from one’s own. This component can be expressed through words or actions.
People with different levels of ethnocultural empathy were also reported to respond distinctively to individuals who are similar with themselves and those who are not. For example, people with higher level of enthnocultural empathy had been found to work more successfully with individuals from other cultures.
Enthnocultural empathy not only functioned in cross-cultural
context, but was also extended to a variety of situations, such as majorities vs. minorities, males vs. female
s, natives vs. non-natives. High levels of enthocultural empathy were reported to be predictive of positive attitude towards minority groups, such as rape victims, domestic violence victims, female leaders, etc.
Enthnocultural cultural empathy has been used in many other research areas such as racialism
, feminism
, multiculturalism
, ethnic identity, etc.
Empathy
Empathy is the capacity to recognize and, to some extent, share feelings that are being experienced by another sapient or semi-sapient being. Someone may need to have a certain amount of empathy before they are able to feel compassion. The English word was coined in 1909 by E.B...
refers to the understanding of feeling
Feeling
Feeling is the nominalization of the verb to feel. The word was first used in the English language to describe the physical sensation of touch through either experience or perception. The word is also used to describe experiences, other than the physical sensation of touch, such as "a feeling of...
s of individuals that are ethnically and/or culturally different from ones’ self. This concept casts doubts on global empathy, which assumes that empathy is “feeling in oneself the feelings of others” and is not specifically targeting any one group (e.g. age, gender, and ethnicity) or context. Ethnocultural empathy, on the other hand, assumes that empathy toward others probably increases if the other is similar to oneself in terms of ethnicity, gender
Gender
Gender is a range of characteristics used to distinguish between males and females, particularly in the cases of men and women and the masculine and feminine attributes assigned to them. Depending on the context, the discriminating characteristics vary from sex to social role to gender identity...
, age
Age
Age may refer to:* Age , an aspect of mathematical model theory* Age , an international peer-reviewed journal operated by Springer.* The Age, a daily newspaper published in Melbourne, Australia* Agé, a god* Åge, a given name...
, or cultural
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
background.
Concept History
Traditionally, empathy is roughly defined as an intellectualIntellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
ability of taking the role or perspective of another person and/or an emotional response to another person with the same emotional display. As a part of personal traits, empathy has been established as relatively stable and consistent within a certain time period. However, increasing research found that people usually hold different levels of empathy toward different individuals based on perceived psychological similarity
Similarity (psychology)
-Cognitive psychological approaches to similarity:Similarity refers to the psychological nearness or proximity of two mental representations. Research in cognitive psychology has taken a number of approaches to the concept of similarity...
. Two primary factors influencing the psychological similarity are ethnics
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
and culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. Particularly, people usually feel more empathetic towards individuals who are in the same ethnic/cultural groups as they are than those who are not.
Quintana defined ethnic perspective taking as a cognitive–developmental ability that could be reached as an individual proceeds through developmental life stages. This development contains five stages of ethnic perspective-taking ability, including (1) physicalistic and observable perspective, (2) literal perspective, (3) non-literal and social perspective, (4) group perspective and (5) multicultural perspective of ethnicity. First, children begin to establish their ethnic identity
Identity
-Philosophical topics:* Identity , also called sameness, is whatever makes an entity definable and recognizable* Law of identity, principle of logic stating that an object is the same as itself...
by distinguishing themselves from other ethnic groups based on physical features. Once children understand the physical differences with other groups, they then are able to become aware of the perspectives, attitude
Attitude (psychology)
An attitude is a hypothetical construct that represents an individual's degree of like or dislike for something. Attitudes are generally positive or negative views of a person, place, thing, or event— this is often referred to as the attitude object...
s, experience
Experience
Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event....
s shared by other ethnic groups, and finally develop the ability to take the perspective of other ethnic groups.
Ridley and Lingle have defined cultural empathy as a “learned ability” which is composed of three subordinate processes: cognitive, affective, and communicative
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
. Cognitive process can b e understood as a cultural perspective-taking and cultural self–other differentiation. Affective process includes vicarious
Vicarious
Vicarious may refer to:* Vicarious arousal, when someone witnessing a strong display of emotion begins to feel a similar emotion themselves.* Vicarious abuse , abuse committed on behalf of somebody else...
affect and the expressive concern. Communicative process includes probing for insight and conveying accurate understanding.
Based on the ethnic perspective of perception and culture difference of empathy, Wang and his colleague posed the concept “ethnocultural empathy.” Although this is a new concept, many previous research had addressed similar or related constructs although never formally terms it. Thus, concepts such as cultural empathy, empathetic multicultural awareness, ethnic perspective taking are usually used interchangeably with “ethnocultural empathy”.
Constructs and Measurements
To date, the Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy (SEE) is the only formally published measurement of enthocultral empathy. SEE is composed of three instrumental aspects: intellectualIntellectual
An intellectual is a person who uses intelligence and critical or analytical reasoning in either a professional or a personal capacity.- Terminology and endeavours :"Intellectual" can denote four types of persons:...
empathy, empathic emotion
Emotion
Emotion is a complex psychophysiological experience of an individual's state of mind as interacting with biochemical and environmental influences. In humans, emotion fundamentally involves "physiological arousal, expressive behaviors, and conscious experience." Emotion is associated with mood,...
s, and the communication
Communication
Communication is the activity of conveying meaningful information. Communication requires a sender, a message, and an intended recipient, although the receiver need not be present or aware of the sender's intent to communicate at the time of communication; thus communication can occur across vast...
of those two.
Intellectual empathy is the ability to understand a racially or ethnically different person’s thinking and/or feeling. It is also the ability to perceive the world as the other person does; that is, racial or ethnic perspective taking.
The empathic emotions component of ethnocultural empathy is attention
Attention
Attention is the cognitive process of paying attention to one aspect of the environment while ignoring others. Attention is one of the most intensely studied topics within psychology and cognitive neuroscience....
to the feeling of a person or persons from another ethnocultural group to the degree that one is able to feel the other’s emotional condition from the point of view of that person’s racial or ethnic culture. In addition, it refers to a person’s emotional response to the emotional display of a person or persons from another ethnocultural group.
The communicative empathy component is the expression of ethnocultural empathic thoughts (intellectual empathy) and feelings (empathic emotions) toward members of racial and ethnic groups different from one’s own. This component can be expressed through words or actions.
Application of the Ethnocultural Empathy
Ethnocultural empathy is usually applied in cross-culture and/or cross-ethnics analysis. The levels of ethnocultural empathy were reported to vary by demographic features and societal factors. Previous research indicated that women were more likely to report higher level of ethnocultural empathy than men,Non-White individuals were found to have significantly higher levels of general and specific ethnocultural empathy than their White counterparts. Racism was negatively associated with enthocultural empathy.People with different levels of ethnocultural empathy were also reported to respond distinctively to individuals who are similar with themselves and those who are not. For example, people with higher level of enthnocultural empathy had been found to work more successfully with individuals from other cultures.
Enthnocultural empathy not only functioned in cross-cultural
Cross-cultural
cross-cultural may refer to*cross-cultural studies, a comparative tendency in various fields of cultural analysis*cross-cultural communication, a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds communicate...
context, but was also extended to a variety of situations, such as majorities vs. minorities, males vs. female
Female
Female is the sex of an organism, or a part of an organism, which produces non-mobile ova .- Defining characteristics :The ova are defined as the larger gametes in a heterogamous reproduction system, while the smaller, usually motile gamete, the spermatozoon, is produced by the male...
s, natives vs. non-natives. High levels of enthocultural empathy were reported to be predictive of positive attitude towards minority groups, such as rape victims, domestic violence victims, female leaders, etc.
Enthnocultural cultural empathy has been used in many other research areas such as racialism
Racialism
Racialism is an emphasis on race or racial considerations. Currently, racialism entails a belief in the existence and significance of racial categories, but not necessarily that any absolute hierarchy between the races has been demonstrated by a rigorous and comprehensive scientific process...
, feminism
Feminism
Feminism is a collection of movements aimed at defining, establishing, and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. Its concepts overlap with those of women's rights...
, multiculturalism
Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism is the appreciation, acceptance or promotion of multiple cultures, applied to the demographic make-up of a specific place, usually at the organizational level, e.g...
, ethnic identity, etc.