Empathy or science? Empathy explains physical science enrollment for men and women

Abstract

Citation for published item:homsonD xFhF nd urtzurgD F nd gentifnti @n¡ ee wu£ nozAD vFgF @PHISA 9impthy or sienec impthy explins physil siene enrollment for men nd womenF9D verning nd individul di'erenesFD RH F ppF IISEIPHF Further information on publisher's website: httpXGGdxFdoiForgGIHFIHITGjFlindifFPHISFHRFHHQ Publisher's copyright statement: NOTICE: this is the author's version of a work that was accepted for publication in Learning and Individual Dierences. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A denitive version was subsequently published in Learning and Individual Dierences, 40, May 2015, 10.1016/j.lindif.2015.003. Additional information:Use policyThe full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that:• a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in DRO • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders.Please consult the full DRO policy for further details. Those in the physical sciences work to understand relationships among non-social entities and this may come at a cost to their understanding of social relationships. Alternatively, it could be that those in the physical sciences differ in how comfortable they feel in social situations. Prior research had been confined to looking at differences between particular subject majors (e.g., humanities) and physical sciences, leaving open the possibility that people choosing subjects like psychology or biology might differ on empathy. University students (N=404) majoring in humanities, social science, life science, or physical science completed the Empathy Quotient (EQ). Confirmatory factor analysis showed threefactors of the EQ, and these were used in multinomial logistic regression. Empathy differences made a unique contribution to explaining subject major choice. We found that greater levels of empathy predicted membership in social and life sciences, while lower levels of empathy predicted physical sciences enrollment.

The habitual female offender inside: How psychopathic traits predict chronic prison violence.

“…With a 12-month testretest reliability of r = .97, and a Cronbach's alpha measured validity of .92, it scores well, and is ranked highly by other researchers in the field (Baron- Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001). In the present study, the EQ had a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .85, suggesting a reliable self-assessment measurement, and is consistent with prior research (Thomson et al, 2015). proportion of zero = .81, range 0 to 6) misconducts over the course of 9-months is consistent with prior research including male and female samples (see Edens, Kelley, Lilienfeld, Skeem, & Douglas, 2015).…”

The impact of maternal incarceration on their daughter's empathy

“…In the present study, the EQ had a Cronbach's alpha coefficient of .85 for the non-offender sample and .84 in the offender sample, suggesting a reliable self-assessment measurement, and is consistent with prior research (Muncer & Ling, 2006). Research has provided evidence for a three-factor model of the EQ providing a more accurate measure of empathy subtypes (Allison et al, 2011;Muncer & Ling, 2006;Thomson & Wurtzburg, Centifanti, 2015). These three factors are cognitive empathy, affective empathy, and social skills.…”

“…On average, women have higher levels of empathy than men (Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004;Thomson & Wurtzburg, Centifanti, 2015). Nevertheless, men and women with a history of antisocial behavior exhibit lower levels of empathy (Jolliffe & Farrington, 2007).…”

Cultivating the social–emotional imagination in gifted education: insights from educational neuroscience

“…While increasing empathy and improving social interactions are positive ends in and of themselves, developing a classroom culture that promotes empathy in the sciences may also be important for improved STEM engagement. University students who report higher levels of empathy are less likely to take courses in the physical sciences . Many more female than male students reported high empathy levels .…”

“…54 Many more female than male students reported high empathy levels. 54 Perhaps if physical science courses offered more opportunities for students to connect the importance of the course content to humanitarian goals, and if physical science classes were not seen as an emotionally sterile environment, those students with higher empathy levels, many of whom are female, might be more likely to pursue a line of study in the physical sciences. Thus, introducing more empathy into the classroom, a skill undergirded in part by the DMN, may be one way to increase the diversity and achievement of students in STEM.…”