8 Ways to Recognize Empathy in Students

Empathy is not just something that we feel — it is something we express through our words, actions and behaviours — but what exactly does this sound and look like? I recently attended a session at the Association of Professional Humane Educators (APHE) annual conference where Eric Andary (Detroit Zoological Society) and Sharon Spender (Jacksonville Zoo and Botanical Gardens) spoke to this and shared a helpful list of actions and behaviours to look for when assessing empathy.

While this tool was originally developed to observe students who are interacting with animals, it can easily be applied to humane education programs where animals are not present, like our free book lending program AnimalTales.

Use the following list when observing students before, during and after using any humane education program or lesson to look for changes in student behaviour:

Expressions of Empathy

1. Understanding needs – to help accurately empathize with an animal, students should understand their specific needs. This could involve students discussing the needs of an animal and even comparing them to their own. E.g., “Pigs are social, just like me!”
2. Perspective taking – perspective taking helps develop students’ capacity for cognitive empathy as it requires them to consider and imagine an animals’ point of view. This could include students describing an animal’s emotional state or providing reasonable explanation for prediction of feeling. E.g., “I bet Buddy the dog in Buddy Unchained felt cold, wet and lonely being chained up outside in the rain.”
3. Appreciation or respect – while appreciation and respect are not direct indicators that a student has empathy for an animal, they demonstrate a fondness for animals which is a related construct. This could involve students verbalizing positive feelings towards animals or their characteristics. E.g., “Horses are my favourite animal because they can gallop so fast!”
4. Interest or curiosity – taking interest and wanting to learn more about an animal are the first steps in building an empathetic connection. This could involve students wanting to learn more about an animal or simply asking questions. E.g., “Why does my dog kick up grass after pooping?”
5. Compassionate concern – this is closely related to empathic concern, a subcategory of empathy that is related to taking action to help others. This could involve students recognizing a need or concern in their community and wanting to act or behave in ways to help. E.g., Taking a bug found in the classroom back outside.
6. Shows positive behaviour – those with an empathic understanding of animals are generally considered more likely to engage in positive behaviours like gently interacting with animals or respecting an animal’s space by not interacting at all. While difficult to observe without an animal, this could include students verbalizing how to appropriately greet a dog or leaving wildlife they encounter in the school yard alone.
7. Recognize individuality and agency – by recognizing that an animal is an individual with thoughts, emotions and agency, students demonstrate an understanding that animals are not objects, but rather sentient beings, opening the door to empathic connections. This could involve students using pronouns/personal names of animals or discussing the needs or qualities of a specific species. E.g., Using ‘he’, ‘she’ or ‘they’ when discussing an animal, rather than ‘it’.
8. Negative empathy – while negative behaviours towards animals may indicate a lack of empathy, including them in observations provides important context and contrast for the frequency with which empathy-related behaviours are observed. This could include students showing fear or disgust towards a species or behaviours that cause harm. E.g., Scaring the birds outside at recess.