The public library, exclusion and empathy: a literature review

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a review of the literature within the fields of public librarianship, social exclusion and empathy. Design/methodology/approach – The cross-disciplinary review involved the consultation of material from disciplines including library and information management, politics, social policy and social sciences, cultural studies, psychology, management and organizational theory. It was structured according to the following themes: exclusion, inclusion and social policy, social inclusion in public services and the cultural sector, the role of public libraries in social inclusion and professional empathy and the public library service. Findings –The concept of social inclusion remains at the core of public library policy and strategy, and is embedded in contemporary social theory. Conflicting views have emerged as to the perceived and actual role of the public library in combating social exclusion, with a need expressed for research to be conducted that bridges the gap between the “philosophical” interpretations of community librarianship and the more practical, “real world” studies, in order to fully understand the concept of community librarianship. A critical link is made between social inclusion and public librarianship to professional empathy. Research limitations/implications – The paper provides an edited version of the overall literature review, yet it is felt that it would be of theoretical and practical relevance and value to the professional and academic communities. Originality/value – Empathy is a relatively new concept in librarianship research, and prior to the study of which this review forms a part only limited findings have been available

The civic and social implications of over-the-top television

Through the lenses of Apparatgeist Theory and the Theory of Networked Publics, this dissertation examines the civic and social implications of the contemporary television ecosystem, focusing on the phenomenon of binge-watching as it relates to political participation and empathic concern. Results of an online survey, including quantitative and qualitative measures, indicate that binge-watching television is a statistically significant factor in positively shaping political participation, both online and offline, regardless of the genre consumed. That said, news and informational programming served as the most powerful genre in predicting political participation. Additionally, this dissertation considers the role of empathy within the binge-watching ecosystem, as informed by the Theory of Narrative Empathy; most strikingly, results suggest that empathic concern relates negatively with binge-watching, regardless of genre consumed. However, the process of talking about the television shows binged proved to be a positive and statistically significant contributor to political participation, political discourse, as well as other-oriented dimensions of empathy. Implications and potential directions for future research and theory development are discussed

Studying online support communities: Investigating network patterns and characteristics of social support

People’s activities on the internet have expanded from mainly retrieving information to communicating with each other in virtual settings. Thus, research investigating social interactions in online communities is becoming more and more important. However, the multi-faceted approaches of existing studies for the analysis of online communities make it difficult to combine the findings into a comprehensive understanding. This shows the need for holistic investigations of online communities. This thesis provides such a holistic approach by investigating a combination of different aspects of a selected online support community for older people. MOSuC (Model of Online Support Communities), a model describing the key aspects of online support communities was developed based on existing theories of computer-mediated communication (CMC) as well as theoretical perspectives on social support. Five studies were conducted, each addressing one of the different aspects of the case study community: (i) the message content, (ii) the conversations structure, (iii) the social network of related community members, (iv) the roles that online community members take on, and (vi) the taget population’s needs concerning the exchange of social support in online communities. The findings of these individual studies were then combined in context of MOSuC in order to provide a holistic description of the community. As a result, this thesis provides detailed insight into the characteristics of the case study community as well as the interplay and dependencies between different aspects of the community. Based on the integration of multiple studies, the thesis sheds light on two main issues: the characteristics of the individual aspects of the community as well as how these aspects are related to and affect each other. In addition to the findings of the studies, the thesis also contributes MOSuC, which serves both as a theoretical framework of the aspects of online support communities, as well as a practical tool for integrating the individual studies. In addition, the application, modification and integration of multiple methods in this thesis provide a novel methodological way for an integrative analysis of online support communities

The Relationship between Social Media and Empathy

The relationship between social media and empathy has not been explored extensively. Research on the expression of emotion and the association with empathy displayed on social media websites have been minimally explored. This study sought to support findings that chatting online leads to expressions of empathy (Rosen, 2012) and a positive relationship exists between conversing with others online and empathic expression (Ivcevic & Ambady, 2012. Empathic concern was hypothesized to show a positive relationship with one’s likelihood to chat, time on Facebook, and emotional connection to Facebook or Facebook usage. Empathic concern also was predicted to be greater among computer users, relative to tablet or mobile phone users. Finally, it was predicted that the extent to which one uses Facebook would be associated with greater expression of empathic concern. Pearson\u27s r was calculated to assess the correlation of empathic concern with the variables likelihood to chat, time on Facebook, and Facebook usage, and an independent samples t-test was conducted in order to compare concern by device type. Analyses confirmed the positive correlation of empathic concern with likelihood to chat, time on Facebook, and Facebook usage, but did not find that empathy varied by device type. A regression analysis revealed that Facebook usage did not improve predictions of empathic concern beyond that of the control variables. Strengths, limitations and implications for future research were discussed

Eating disorder literacy and stigmatising attitudes towards anorexia, bulimia and binge eating disorder among adolescents

Little research has investigated adolescents’ understanding of eating disorders (EDs) or attitudes towards people affected by EDs. This impedes the development of targeted health promotion interventions. In the current study, 290 adolescents viewed a vignette depicting a target with either Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa, Binge Eating Disorder, Depression or Type 1 Diabetes. Subsequent questionnaires assessed understanding of and attitudes towards the disorder described . Adolescents recognised the symptoms of depression significantly more frequently than any ED. Relative to depression and Type 1 diabetes, participants held targets with EDs more personally responsible for their illness and ascribed them more negative personality characteristics. The data revealed a particularly unfavourable view of Binge Eating Disorder, which was conceptualised as a failure of self-discipline rather than a medical condition. The results confirm previous findings that EDs are more stigmatised than other mental or physical health conditions and extend the findings to an adolescent cohort

The Age of Connection: Interdependent Self-Construal Links Age and Prosociality

Theories of aging have major implications for age differences in the self-concept across the adult lifespan that remain largely untested. Here, I propose a new perspective that draws from prominent aging theories to argue that people come to adopt a more interdependent self-construal with age as social environments become increasingly interdependent. Accordingly, I explain how ontogenetic development across the adult lifespan may emphasize interdependent social environments and subsequently encourage one to adopt a more interdependent self, explore how this perspective dovetails with prominent aging theories, and apply this perspective within the context of aging and prosocial behavior to support three studies (and one pilot study) within a Western cultural context to investigate the connection between aging, interdependence, and prosociality. In Study 1, I demonstrate within- and between-person age differences in the conduciveness of immediate social environments to the internalization of an interdependent self-construal. In Study 2, I replicate previous findings of an association between age and prosociality and interdependent self-construal and prosociality whilst demonstrating a positive relationship between age and interdependent self-construal. Lastly, in Studies 3a and 3b I validate and use a manipulation that makes participants experience some aspects of aging (using software that progresses the age of participants’ faces) and a novel manipulation of salience of interdependence to generate differences in interdependent self-construal, prosocial values, and actual prosocial behavior that are consistent with previously reported age differences in these constructs. Overall, these findings provide triangulating evidence across a variety of samples and methodologies to support a connection between aging, interdependence, and prosociality

Dissociation and interpersonal autonomic physiology in psychotherapy research: an integrative view encompassing psychodynamic and neuroscience theoretical frameworks

Interpersonal autonomic physiology is an interdisciplinary research field, assessing the relational interdependence of two (or more) interacting individual both at the behavioral and psychophysiological levels. Despite its quite long tradition, only eight studies since 1955 have focused on the interaction of psychotherapy dyads, and none of them have focused on the shared processual level, assessing dynamic phenomena such as dissociation. We longitudinally observed two brief psychodynamic psychotherapies, entirely audio and video-recorded (16 sessions, weekly frequency, 45 min.). Autonomic nervous system measures were continuously collected during each session. Personality, empathy, dissociative features and clinical progress measures were collected prior and post therapy, and after each clinical session. Two-independent judges, trained psychotherapist, codified the interactions\u2019 micro-processes. Time-series based analyses were performed to assess interpersonal synchronization and de-synchronization in patient\u2019s and therapist\u2019s physiological activity. Psychophysiological synchrony revealed a clear association with empathic attunement, while desynchronization phases (range of length 30-150 sec.) showed a linkage with dissociative processes, usually associated to the patient\u2019s narrative core relational trauma. Our findings are discussed under the perspective of psychodynamic models of Stern (\u201cpresent moment\u201d), Sander, Beebe and Lachmann (dyad system model of interaction), Lanius (Trauma model), and the neuroscientific frameworks proposed by Thayer (neurovisceral integration model), and Porges (polyvagal theory). The collected data allows to attempt an integration of these theoretical approaches under the light of Complex Dynamic Systems. The rich theoretical work and the encouraging clinical results might represents a new fascinating frontier of research in psychotherapy

Social Cognitive and Affective Neural Substrates of Adolescent Transdiagnostic Symptoms

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)The social cognitive ability to identify another’s internal state and social affective ability to share another’s emotional experience, known as empathy, are integral to healthy social functioning. During tasks, neural systems active when adolescents empathize include cognitive (medial prefrontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) and affective (anterior insula and anterior cingulate cortex) regions that are consistent with the adult task-based literature implicating the default mode, salience, and frontoparietal networks. However, task-based studies are limited to examining neural regions probed by the task; thus, do not capture broader patterns of information processing associated with complex processes, such as empathy. Methods of functional connectivity capture broader patterns of information processing at the level of network connectivity. Although it has clear advantages in identifying neural vulnerabilities to disorder, functional connectivity has yet to be used in adolescent investigations of empathy. Via parent- and self-report, deficits in either cognitive or affective processes central to empathy associate with the most widely agreed on classifications of behavioral disorders in adolescents – transdiagnostic symptoms of internalizing and externalizing. However, this evidence relies exclusively on self-report measures and research has yet to examine the neural connectivity underlying transdiagnostic symptoms in relation to cognitive and affective empathy. What has yet to be known is (1) how the social cognitive and affective processes of empathy are functionally connected across a heterogeneous sample of adolescents and (2) the association of cognitive, affective, and imbalanced empathy with transdiagnostic symptoms. Addressing these gaps in knowledge is an important incremental step for specifying vulnerabilities not fully captured via subjective report alone. This information can be used to improve prevention and intervention strategies. The present study will examine the functional connectivity of neural networks underlying empathy in early to mid-adolescents and their association with transdiagnostic symptoms

Physiological Correlates of Volunteering

We review research on physiological correlates of volunteering, a neglected but promising research field. Some of these correlates seem to be causal factors influencing volunteering. Volunteers tend to have better physical health, both self-reported and expert-assessed, better mental health, and perform better on cognitive tasks. Research thus far has rarely examined neurological, neurochemical, hormonal, and genetic correlates of volunteering to any significant extent, especially controlling for other factors as potential confounds. Evolutionary theory and behavioral genetic research suggest the importance of such physiological factors in humans. Basically, many aspects of social relationships and social activities have effects on health (e.g., Newman and Roberts 2013; Uchino 2004), as the widely used biopsychosocial (BPS) model suggests (Institute of Medicine 2001). Studies of formal volunteering (FV), charitable giving, and altruistic behavior suggest that physiological characteristics are related to volunteering, including specific genes (such as oxytocin receptor [OXTR] genes, Arginine vasopressin receptor [AVPR] genes, dopamine D4 receptor [DRD4] genes, and 5-HTTLPR). We recommend that future research on physiological factors be extended to non-Western populations, focusing specifically on volunteering, and differentiating between different forms and types of volunteering and civic participation