An ecological approach to empathy

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dc.contributor.authorAvram, Christa Michelle
dc.contributor.authorUniversity of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science
dc.contributor.supervisorBarrett, Louise
dc.date.accessioned2021-05-21T21:48:09Z
dc.date.available2021-05-21T21:48:09Z
dc.date.issued2021
dc.degree.levelMastersen_US
dc.description.abstractTwo restrictive habits of seeing currently dominate empathy research in psychology: 1. the vertical worldview, which assumes that the reality of behaviour lies in hidden levels; 2. dualism, which assumes a binary arrangement of organism and environment. The cognitivist perceptual model encourages these habits by explaining empathy as a brain-generated phenomenon that occurs in a private, mentally represented reality. This, I argue, is not a useful model for empathy, which presupposes context and connection. Instead, I propose an alternate model, James Gibson’s ecological approach, whose horizontal worldview and organism-environment mutuality encourage us to see organisms as processual, environmentally embedded ways of being. In this model, to empathize is to coexperience directly what the environment affords another’s way of being — an experience characterized, facilitated, and constrained by one’s ecological niche. Niches shape the affective dimension of coexperiencing; however, they can frequently be modified through collective action.en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10133/5892
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.proquest.subject0621en_US
dc.proquest.subject0384en_US
dc.proquestyesYesen_US
dc.publisherLethbridge, Alta. : University of Lethbridge, Dept. of Psychologyen_US
dc.publisher.departmentDepartment of Psychologyen_US
dc.publisher.facultyArts and Scienceen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesThesis (University of Lethbridge. Faculty of Arts and Science)en_US
dc.subjectempathyen_US
dc.subjectecological psychologyen_US
dc.subjectperceptionen_US
dc.subjectEmpathy -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectEnvironmental psychology -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectPerception -- Researchen_US
dc.subjectDissertations, Academicen_US
dc.titleAn ecological approach to empathyen_US
dc.typeThesisen_US
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