Abstract
The concept of empathy has multiple meanings. In the present paper we present an experiment in which the relationship between empathy and spatial perspective Berthoz and Jorland (L’Empathie, 2004) acquires a significant role in the process of structural coupling Maturana and Varela (The tree of knowledge: the biological roots of human understanding, 1992) and Damiano (Unità in dialogo. Un nuovo stile per la conoscenza, 2009). The concept of empathy in education is at the basis of the relation between teacher and students and between teaching and learning. Thus the concepts of co-activity Vinatier and Numa-Bocage (Revue française de pédagogie, 158:85–101, 2007) and of structural coupling have analogies with empathy and can provide operational indications. The research question is the following: is it possible to detect the presence of a structural coupling and of empathic processes in a class of students and their teachers through the mediation of a conceptual space created by an automated AI system? The present contribution analyses the use of an AI plug-in developed within the European project I-TUTOR. In the experiment the artefact plays the role of mediator between the teacher and the students and lets their different perspectives be compared. The artefact does not engage in dialogue with the student in a one-to-one relationship, but it is a vertex of the student-artefact-teacher triangle. The artefact, an automated space, fosters a comparison between the perspective of the student and that of the teacher in relation to the dominant teaching object of the course. The paper describes the findings of the experiment run with two groups of students and proposes some changes to be worked into the plug-in to foster further empathic processes.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Berthoz A, Jorland G (eds) (2004) L’Empathie, 320. Odile Jacob, Paris
Maturana H, Varela F (1992) The tree of knowledge: the biological roots of human understanding. Shambhala Publications, Boston, p 269
Damiano L (2009) Unità in dialogo. Un nuovo stile per la conoscenza. Bruno Mondadori, Milano, p 276
Vinatier I, Numa-Bocage L (2007) Prise en charge d’un enfant difficulté de lecture par un maître spécialisé: gestion de l’intersubjectivité et schème de médiation didactique. Rev Fr Pedag 158:85–101
Laurillard D (2012) Teaching as a design science. Building pedagogical patterns for learning and teaching. Routledge, New York
Gallese V (2003) The roots of empathy: the shared manifold hypothesis and the neural basis of intersubjectivity. Psychopathology 36:171–180
Accornero M (ed) (2009) Movimento, percezione ed empatia. Mimesis Edizioni, Milano
Rogers C (1951) Client-centered therapy. The Riverside Press, Cambridge
Jung CG (1977) Tipi psicologici. Bollati Boringhieri, Torino
Arnold R (2010) The social and emotional aspects of learning: empathy. In: McGaw B, Peterson P, Baker E (eds) The international encyclopedia of education. Elsevier, Amsterdam
Bellingreri A (2013) L’empatia come virtù. Il Pozzo di Giacobbe, Trapani
U.S. Department of Education (2010) National Educational Technology Plan, http://www.ed.gov/sites/default/files/NETP-2010-final-report.pdf. Accessed 26 July 2014
Varela F, Thompson E, Rosch E (1991) The embodied mind: cognitive science and human experience. MIT Press, Cambridge
Pacherie PE (2004) L’empathie et ses degrés. In: Berthoz A, Jorland G (eds) L’Empathie. Odile Jacob, Paris, pp 149–181
Altet M, Bru M, Blanchard Laville C (2012) Observer les pratiques enseignantes. Harmattan, Paris
Wilson M (2002) Six views of embodied cognition. Psychon Bull Rev 9:625–636
Wilson AD, Golonka S (2013) Embodied cognition is not what you think it is. Front Psychol 4(58):1–13
Davis B, Sumara D, Kieren T (1996) Cognition, co-emergence, curriculum. J Curric Stud 28(2):151169
Damiano E (2013) La mediazione didattica. Per una teoria dell’insegnamento. Franco Angeli, Milano
Houssaye J (2000) Le triangle pédagogique. Peter Lang, Berne
Latour B (2005) Reassembling the social: an introduction to actor network theory. Oxford University Press, Oxford
Merleau-Ponty M (2002) Phenomenology of perception. Routledge Classics, London
Bruner JS (1966) Toward a theory of instruction. Belkapp Press, Cambridge
Giannandrea L, Magnoler P, Rossi PG (2013) APOL. L’Emilio non abita più qui. In: Damiano E (ed) La mediazione didattica. Per una teoria dell’insegnamento. Franco Angeli, Milano, pp 210–283
Paviotti G, Rossi PG, Zarka D (eds) (2012) Intelligent tutoring systems: an overview. Pensa Multimedia, Lecce
Creswell JW (2007) Qualitative inquiry and research design: choosing among five approaches. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks
Willis J (2007) Foundations of qualitative research: interpretive and critical approaches. Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks
Lyons J (1997) Semantics, vol II. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Levinson SC (1983) Pragmatics. Cambridge University, Cambridge
Nunberg G (1993) Indexicality and deixis. Linguist Philos 16(1):1–43
Perconti P (2006) Filosofia della mente. In: Pennisi A, Perconti P (eds) Le scienze cognitive del linguaggio. Il Mulino, Bologna, pp 15–60
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rossi, P.G., Fedeli, L. Empathy, Education and AI. Int J of Soc Robotics 7, 103–109 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0272-9
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12369-014-0272-9