the
empathy playbook by The Apathetic Beings
empathy playbook 1
Copyright Š 2017 Student document publication. Meant for private circulation only. All rights reserved. Bachelor of Design Product Design 2015-2019 National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad. No part of this document will be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronically, or mechanically including photocopying, videography, photography without written permission from the publishers Awanee Joshi, Shefali Bohra, Supreetha Krishnan, Swayamsiddha Priyadarshi, Vaidehie Chiplunkar and National Institute of Design. All illustrations and photographs in this document are Copyright Š 2017 by respective people/ organisations. Edited and Designed by: Awanee Joshi, Shefali Bohra, Supreetha Krishnan, Swayamsiddha Priyadarshi, Vaidehie Chiplunkar Processed at : National Institute of Design, Paldi, Ahmedabad, 380007 Gujarat, India May 2017
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what is
empathy?
Empathy is an instict that allows us to feel what another is feeling by understanding their perspectives through our sensory input and past experiences.
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contents ask
observe
1.
What I Know, What I Want to know, What I Have Learned
1.
Sneak Peek
2.
Question-Conversation Game
2.
Mirror. Re - Mirror
3.
Monologue Dialogue Game
3.
Nature Scavenger Hunt
4.
Bag of Words
4.
Map with Sense
5.
Situation Game
5.
Find by ask
express 1.
Musical Emotions
2.
Emotions Cards
3.
Emotional Transfer
4.
Draw the Emotions
unbias 1.
Thumb Wrestling
2.
Belief Release
3.
Everything But Sleep
4.
Hands Down
imagine 1.
Fold It Like Me
2.
Make It Happen
3.
Meaningful Abstraction
4.
Scribblish
5.
Don’t Be Yourself empathy playbook 5
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empathy = a + e + i + o + u
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y r I U Q I
n
More information results in better understanding. Curiosity is fueled by inquiry. Assumptions can be verified by obtaining / gathering more information. The ability to reflect and retrospect results in growth unbiased associations.
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a
Be curious . Question . Listen.
ask
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aeiou
Exercise 1
What i Know, What i want to know, What i have learned
Purpose: To become aware of the information that is known and to be able to reflect on the data available and synthesize it further to get a better understanding of it. Outcomes: Improved ability to process data in a holistic manner and introspect Number of people: 1 person Equipments: Pen and a Paper, A place to sit and write on the paper Time: Approximately 15 minutes, extending over 2 days empathy playbook 11
how to Play
Debrief
Step 1: On the sheet of paper, draw a table with three columns titled “What I Know”, “What I want to know” and “What I have learned” each.
Self reflection is a skill that helps us build our personality and it becomes a habit when you do it deliberately over and over. We believe that the kind of empathy today’s world needs is more “informed”. Our brain receives loads of information all the time. So to help us understand that information, our brain simplifies the data using some catalysts. These catalysts are the biases. It is a form of segregation that the brain performs to make sense of information faster and filter out things that don’t seem needed based on past experiences. This process helps us take faster decisions, but it can also lead to “unfair” decisions.
What I Know
What I want to Know
What I have learned
Step 2: Write in the first column the facts that you know about a particular topic. Use your own words. Try to keep the text more factual. Avoid personal opinions. Step 3: Reflect on the things you have written. Think of the parts that you don’t know about, try to answer the what, why, where, when, who and how of the facts you know. Now in the second column write the things you want to know. Step 4: Now take the whole day to find out about these things you want to know. Write down the new knowledge.
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This exercise makes us think about our “filtered thoughts” and see if we are missing any information. Question the data we have leads to getting more data and make a more informed decision.
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Em E mo o t io i on n a l c a p a ccit it y
Sensitivity to accommodate and consume emotional data at first glance, ability to reflect emotions as a primary feeling along with the capacity to express.
Feel . Accommodate . Accept
express
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aeiou
Exercise 1
Musical emotions
Purpose: To help children learn different ways of communicating and understanding emotions, henceforth increasing their emotional vocabulary. Outcome: Increased emotional vocabulary No. of people: Any number of people Equipment: Speakers Time: 30 mins empathy playbook 17
how to Play
Part 2
Part 1
Divide the children into groups of 5.
Step 1: Make a playlist of the following tracks of famous classical pieces. Improvise as per your mood and day.
Step 2: Assign the group a certain emotion. Ask the group to express the assigned emotion through certain sounds/music, using voices, hands and props that are available around. Give them 10 minutes to prepare.
Positivity: Drama: Confidence: Frivolity: Melancholy: Mischief: Mystery: Warmth: Excitement: Sadness:
Step 1:
https://bit.ly/2SkOajN https://bit.ly/2P5g7d5 https://bit.ly/2P6SIs1 https://bit.ly/2r8G1Dk https://bit.ly/2RgroJv https://bit.ly/2KA2F0l https://bit.ly/2r5vBnU https://bit.ly/2r1MIH1 https://bit.ly/2PY3KF9 https://bit.ly/24vRIQP
Step 2: Play the music pieces one by one and ask the children to express their emotions or feelings after listening to the music. Ask them to associate feelings with the music pieces. Discuss why they perceived the music a certain way. What were the elements in the music that evoked those emotions?
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Debrief A ‘Music and Feelings’ lesson can encourage children to recognise and talk about different feelings and emotions through a variety of musical fun activities. Recognizing emotions through music can help develop emotional intelligence. Music can help child ‘hear’ what certain feelings sound like, and they can learn to tell what emotion is evoked by a piece of music ; whether that may be happy, sad, scared or mad. The musical instruments can be ‘gates’ for their emotions and playing them allows their emotions to come through. Music is a language that crosses boundaries and one that people of all ages and backgrounds can share. Whether it’s high emotions and drama or serene peace and calm, these moods can be conveyed without the need for words through the beauty and the depth of music.
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I m a g i n a t i o n
The ability to draw connections and links between the data input and the stored data to derive more assumptions, consider possibilities and enhanced perspectives.
Take perspectives.
imagine
i
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Exercise 1
Fold it like me
Purpose : To take into consideration how other people go through a process. To make children realize that sometimes some vital /small information is known to them but not the other person. To make the distinction between hearing and listening. To make communication effective. Outcomes : Increased awareness of multiple perspectives/ meanings that can be taken from a single sentence. Number of people : 4 to 5 people Equipment: A4 papers and pens Time: 20 minutes empathy playbook 23
how to Play
Debrief
Step 1: Make groups of 3 or 4 children and give each one a paper.
Most times each child will come up with different shapes of paper. Ask the children to talk about the experience. Ask each child if knowing the person with whom they were playing helped in achieving the same pattern in the end. Ask what they thought were the errors in communication that led to this certain kind of unwanted result. The important thing here is that we think that we are communicating effectively but one does not realize not every person thinks the same. Also, how effectively we listen depends upon us. By improving our ability to think like another, we can improve our communication and listening skills. Empathy is not only required from the child that is guiding but also is from the other group members.
Step 2: Ask them all to close their eyes and ask one child to start folding the paper. Tell them the rule that apart from the child that is guiding, there should be no talking. Step 3: Tell the child to guide the others through the process of folding the paper. Mention that the aim is that all the remaining group members should get a folded paper identical to the one the first child is folding. Step 4: Children open their eyes and look at what they have made and what others have made in comparison.
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I n f o r m a t i o n
Information comprises of two units. First is the immediate data input, and second one is the primary database and its subset. It is a collection of the past experiences and the associations built of them.
Receive. Recall.
o
observe
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Exercise 1
sneak peek
Purpose: This exercise is to test the children observation and memory skills. Outcome: increasing the capacity of kid to intake information. Recollection is very important and recollecting as accurately as possible is crucial for all parties. No. of people: Any number of people Equipment: Collect an object, a cloth wide enough to cover the object, paper, pens Time: 20-30 minutes empathy playbook 29
how to Play
Debrief
Step 1: Place the object on a table where everyone can see it and cover it with a cloth. Ask the participants to sit around it with a paper and pen.
Ask them to display the 4 drawings and ask them what they think. In which drawing were they able to capture the maximum detail? Why? What happened over time? What were they thinking while drawing? Observation is a very important skill. This exercise tries to highlight the importance of prolonged observation or capturing as much information as possible in a small frame of time. And this is possible with a an active information seeking mind. This is an useful ability to have. Keen observation for nuances gives one a clearer picture of things and helps one take a stance in any incident.
Step 2: Look at an object for 1 minute and draw as many details as you remember, Blindfold feel and describe an object. Step 3: Repeat the exercise again but allow them to observe the object for 45 seconds. Cover the object. Ask them to draw. Step 4: Repeat it again, this time only for 30 seconds. Step 5: And yet again for 15 seconds. In addition to this you can ask them to close their eyes and touch the object. Ask them to feel it anyhow they want. and then describe what they object feels like to the rest. You may also place the object in a bag and you can ask the child to feel the object and guess what it might be.
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s e s a B
i
Experiences and repetitive exposure to a certain kind of environment results in building of an inclination or prejudice for or against one object, person, group or environment.
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Open mind . Don’t Judge . Don’t assume.
unbias
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Exercise 1
Thumb Wrestling
Purpose: To make kids aware of the already built mental models and convince them to think otherwise. It’s intended to help them see interdependencies and unintended consequences. Outcome: Ability to think other than the already built models. No. Of player: 2n (even no. of people) Equipements: none, candies to the winning partners Time: 1 minute empathy playbook 35
how to Play
Debrief
Step 1: Tell kids to partner up.
Ask the partners how many points they have gained. Occasional score might be between 20 to 30, the pair with considerably high score wins. Ask them how they got it? The answer would most likely be that they cooperated by allowing their partner to pin their thumbs down multiple times in a row. Using this methods the partners have a better chance of winning.
Step 2: Ask them if they have thumb wrestled before. Demonstrate for those who haven’t [draw the diagram for thumb wrestle] Step 3: For each team, the goal is to collect as many points as you can in a minute. (Do not set partners explicitly as competitors) This game gently and humorously exposes our models of winning, losing and building potential for a win-win situation.
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Our mental model : one win one lose Look for unintended consequences: both lose Look for interdependencies : how can we shift our focus to look for collaboration instant of just seeing the competition. It also helpsthem realise how our lenses make up for the filtration process of what we intake as information.
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