Physics Faculty Perspectives on Empathy and Empathetic Action

We explore physics faculty conceptions of empathy and empathetic action in STEM academic spaces, including classrooms, research labs and the general department. Specifically, we ask 1) in what ways, contexts, and to what degree empathetic action manifests; 2) how empathy and empathetic action evolve across different dynamics, including faculty-student, faculty-mentee, and faculty-faculty; 3) what mediating factors influence this evolution; and 4) what barriers physics faculty perceive to empathetic action. We answer these questions through semi-structured, longitudinal individual interviews, using Constructivist Grounded Theory/Emergent Coding analysis to identify prominent themes. Preliminary results identify Shared and Adjacent lived experiences as mediating factors to the development of empathy and the progression to empathetic action. Shared (or common) Lived Experiences promote an emotional empathy in which faculty feel what another feels. Adjacent Lived Experiences, however, primarily promote a cognitive (intellectual) empathy in which one understands, but may not necessarily feel. In addition, we find a variety of key faculty-student dynamics that determine whether and how faculty take on empathetic action, in particular a desire in (some) faculty to establish and maintain personal and professional boundaries.