Young people, multiculturalism, and educational interventions for the development of empathy

Abstract

As is maintained in the Seville Statement on Violence, the role of education in shaping human relations is fundamental. In order to develop effective educational interventions aiming to foster empathic relations, some important prerequisites need to be satisfied. One of these prerequisites, which is based on a constructivist model, is constituted by the identification and analysis of the pre-existing concepts and attitudes of those to whom interventions are directed, regarding the specific issues involved in the specific educational process. More effective positive changes can be obtained this way as they are generated from within the individuals themselves. Using this perspective, a study was conducted in Italian schools on the attitudes of young people between 9–18 years of age towards multiculturalism in contemporary society. The participants (N=350, 176 girls and 174 boys) were invited to write down anonymously their thoughts about multiculturalism. Their essays were quantitatively and qualitatively analysed. The aim was to obtain a deep understanding not only of the explicit but also of the implicit meaning of the texts and consequently also of the motivations underlying the participants' attitudes. Some of the results of this study are discussed and suggestions are made for the development of educational interventions aiming to foster young people's empathic attitudes.

Youths, Cultural Diversity, and Complex Thinking^

“…Participants were asked to indicate only their gender and were not requested to specify whether they were immigrant or Italian. Like in our previous studies [4,22], some participants explicitly stated they were Italian, immigrant or with parents of mixed nationalities. Sometimes, when no explicit mention was made of their cultural background, it was possible to infer from the text whether a pupil was Italian or immigrant.…”

“…Here the term is employed in its demographic and descriptive usage [10][11] to broadly indicate the changing composition of the population and the complexity of emergent forms of diversity in society, constituted by the interplay of different and overlapping ethnic, socio-economic and other cultural variables [4,12]. COMPLEX THINKING AND COMPLEXITY THEORY "Complex thinking" can be defined as the combination of certain cognitive and emotional processes through which individuals try to understand themselves, the others, the world and, in general, all the aspects of reality they may be interested in.…”

“…A few of these categories (e.g., "concreteness" and "honesty") were elaborated in previous research of our group [4], while others (e.g., "unity and multiplicity" and "emotional granularity") are more strictly related to the specific constituents of "complex thinking".…”

“…"Complexity" refers here to "the degree to which participants, in proportion to their age, […] appeared to be aware of the complexity of the issue itself (for example, by analyzing it in at least some of its many different facets, by making a sufficiently thorough and elaborate examination of it and by avoiding simplistic and stereotypical judgments)" [4] (p. 251). We will examine the relationship between complex thinking and attitudes towards cultural diversity among youths in Italy.…”

The Role of Art in Society with Particular Reference to the Problem of Violence$

“…Literature allows deep ideas and emotions to be expressed and, hence, makes it possible for the reader to participate in other human beings' experiences, even if these human beings are fictitious and belong to different cultures. As a result, these characters in the stories become specific individuals with their own stories and personalities, empathy is promoted and the tendency to homogeneity diminishes 1 [13] (p. 257).…”