A Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy in Children

Empathy measures that involve both cognitive and affective aspects of empathy are scarce. The aim of the work presented in this paper was to develop an instrument for the assessment of both aspects of dispositional empathy in children aged eight to fourteen, based on a variety of existing measures and results from the validation of a first preliminary version

Concepts and Evaluation of Psychological Models of Empathy

This paper provides an overview over contemporary empathy research, including concepts and definitions as well as descriptions of empathic processes and outcomes. Based on these theoretical foundations, three different approaches to model empathy are described: a low-level computational approach, an OCC-based approach, and an empathy model inspired by PSI, a general psychological theory of psychic functioning. Ideas on how these models could be implemented in agents are discussed and preliminary efforts to evaluate the plausibility and believability of the empathic processes and outcomes are drafted

Inter-cultural differences in response to a computer-based anti-bullying intervention

Background and purpose: Many holistic anti-bullying interventions have been attempted, with mixed success, while little work has been done to promote a 'self-help' approach to victimisation. The rise of the ICT curriculum and computer support in schools now allows for approaches that benefit from technology to be implemented. This study evaluates the cross-cultural effects of a computer-based anti-bullying intervention on primary school-aged children's knowledge about bullying and relevant coping strategies. Programme description: FearNot! is an interactive computer-based virtual learning environment designed for use as an anti-bullying intervention. It includes interactive virtual agents who assume the most common participant roles found in episodes of bullying. FearNot! was used by children over three consecutive weeks to allow its effectiveness to be evaluated in a longitudinal in situ programme. Sample: Two comparable samples were drawn from the UK and Germany. In the UK, 651 participants (aged 8-11) were recruited from primary schools in Hertfordshire, Coventry and Warwickshire, whereas the 535 German participants (aged 7-10) were sourced from Grundschulen in the Bayern and Hessen regions. Because of lack of parental consent, late joiners and absences/missing responses, data from 908 participants (UK 493; Germany 415) were analysed. Design and methods: A quasi-experimental, pre/post-tests control group design employed pre-published and bespoke questionnaires to collect data. Descriptive and inferential analyses were conducted. Results: UK students possessed higher coping strategy knowledge scores than German participants, but German children's scores improved over time and as a result of the FearNot! intervention. Conclusions: Overall, while not effective at increasing children's coping strategy knowledge in this study, the FearNot! intervention could prove a useful classroom tool to approach the issue of bullying as part of a wider initiative. Cultural differences at baseline and reactions to the intervention are discussed

But that was in another country: agents and intercultural empathy

This paper discusses the development of a believable agent-based educational application designed to develop inter-cultural empathy for 13-14 year old students. It considers relevant work in cultural taxonomy and adaptation to other cultures as well as work showing that users are sensitive to the perceived culture of believable interactive characters. It discusses how an existing affective agent architecture was developed to model culturally- specific agent behaviour. Finally, it considers the role of interaction modalities in supporting an empathic engagement with culturally-specific characters