The discourse dynamics
of empathy:
initial findings from a focus
group discussion
Lynne Cameron and Robert Maslen
The Open University
Empathy
Imagining what it is like to be someone other than
yourself is at the core of our humanity. It is the
essence of compassion, and it is the beginning of
morality.
Ian McEwan, The Guardian, 15th September, 2001
Living with Uncertainty:
Metaphor and the dynamics of
empathy in discourse
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Funded by ESRC/AHRC
Opening up possibilities for alternative
responses to uncertainty
Research Fellowship with linked project
activities
Phase 1: Perceptions of other people in times
of threat: Empathy and metaphor in focus
group discussions
Approaches to empathy
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Philosophy (e.g. Gadamer, 1982)
Psychotherapy (Wynn and Wynn, 2006)
Medicine (Halpern, 2007)
Neuroscience (Gallese, 2003, 2005; Iacoboni, 2005;
Xu et al, 2009)
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Psychology (Vorauer and Sasaki, 2009)
Literature and the arts (Harrison, 2008)
Conflict resolution, post-conflict reconciliation
(Halpern and Weinstein, 2004)
Halpern and Weinstein (2004)
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Development of empathy has three aspects
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Commonality through identification with Other
Curiosity
“imagining and seeking to understand the
perspective of another person” (p. 568)
Working definition
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Emotional empathy
Perspective taking
Moral/ethical positioning
Opening access to empathy
Research Question
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How do focus groups use metaphor and
other language strategies to construct,
negotiate and resist empathy in respect of
other social groups?
Data
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12 focus groups with members of the public
AB
Men
AB
Women
C1/C2
Men
C1/C2
Women
Muslim
Men
Muslim
Women
Total
Leeds
8
8
8
8
8
8
48
London
8
8
8
8
8
8
48
Total participants: 96
Socio-economic status: AB = professional, skilled jobs
C1/C2 = manual, semi- or unskilled jobs
Metaphor Analysis
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Transcription of audio recording to intonation units
(Chafe, 1994; du Bois et al, 1993).
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Identification of linguistic metaphor vehicles
(Cameron, 2003)
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.. if they were living in some sort of stability,
I would say it’s a flaw in the system
12,905 linguistic metaphors.
Finding systematicity: constructing groups of
connected metaphors
Identifying systematic metaphors
THE RISK OF TERRORISM IS A GAME OF CHANCE
PEOPLE HAVE NO CONTROL OVER OUTCOMES
we get caught up in a poker game
(London AB Men)
they will play the bluff
(London AB Men)
the odds are very high
(Leeds Muslim Women)
if your number’s up
(London AB Men)
pawns in a game
(Leeds CD Men)
Group differences
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Men make more use than Women of gaming
metaphors to talk about the risks of terrorism. ***
Muslim Men make much less use than nonMuslim Men. ***
Muslim Women make little or no use of these. **
Terry if they were that brave,
.. surely they'd say
<Q right,
.. this is our team,
.. that's your team,
… crack on Q> []
xx XX
Terry but they don't,
.. because they hide
in the woodwork.
xx mm.
xx mm.
Finn well who's to -who's -who's <X to draw up X> the teams?
.. who's to say,
which is the -which is on -who's on which team? (Cameron et al, 2009)
Building on the metaphor
analysis
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Adding deictic metaphors (here/there,
this/that)
it’s not that these groups were not there,
they were there all the time,
they were there here in -in England also.
Building on the metaphor
analysis
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SOCIAL LANDSCAPE metaphors
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Across previous vehicle groupings
Landscape related
Topics: social life, social groups
terrorism to me it’s a sneaky way
(the government is) moving away from the
situation,
Other language strategies related
to empathy across social groups
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Explicit expression of empathy
Perspective taking
Narratives
Scenarios
Labelling
Reference shifting
Findings (Muslim men in London)
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101 scenarios and narratives
60% included perspective taking
160 instances of perspective taking
Most perspective taking in or related to
scenarios and narratives
Very few explicit expressions of empathy
white
victims of terrorism
victims of state terrorism
the West
terrorists
society
racists
peace-loving HB
own group (young)
own group (child)
own group
own generation
own colour
other
ordinary people
moderator
media
Muslim sub-groups
investigators
innocent Irish
government and ss
freedom fighters
FG
family
everybody
asylum seekers
Americans
Whose perspective?
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
Labels
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Individual people (13)
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Airey Neave, Bin Laden, Blair
My children, my son
Labels
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Groups (99)
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BNP, CIA, Home Office, Heads of State
French, Iraqi, Pakistani, British
Muslim, Hindu
British Muslim, white Muslim, non-Muslim
Criminals, bullies, skinheads, racists
Joe Bloggs, that guy, any other British youngster,
the average bod
Labels
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‘Social markers’ (19)
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Beards – clean-shaven, brown skin, cap, hijab,
shalwar kameez, rucksack, veil
Scenario
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
Coda
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
Labelling
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
Metaphors
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
Metaphors – social landscape
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
s-l
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
s-l
Perspective taking
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
Empathy
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
my children suddenly have realised,
that,
..not only they are British,
..they are British Muslims.
.. that is ..what has happened.
s-l
that suddenly they have realised,
<Q oh I am a Muslim Q>.
..until now,
they were living,
… (2.0) as if they were any other British youngster.
..but now they particularly feel it.
..so that,
..age of innocence,
has suddenly.. disappeared.
s-l
Closing remarks
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Methods promising route to answering
research question
Further work
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Apply to remaining 11 groups
Compare findings
Connect empirical findings to theoretical
model of empathy
Thank you
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