Thread by @RohanIrvine

Day 2 Design Research!

We're kicking off with Sarah Stokes — Defining empathy and it's role in design research

#DR19

.@sarahlucystoked empathy is a complex idea and is going to unpack it today. As a research principal and business coach she found the empathy phase of Design Thinking quite superficial and wanted to understand it more.

Another moment that led to this talk was the realisation she didn't have much empathy for her colleagues

When someone gets coached in an organisation they tend to coach the people around them, it's called the coaching ripple effect. What is the empathy ripple effect in an organisation and does it ripple the same way?

When Sarah was on an archeological dig, cleaning out the mud from an eye socket she wondered what it would have been like to live as that person. Now she does that with people who are alive.

There has been generational decline in the amount of empathy, children are getting less cues from less eye contact.

As design researchers we're bringing empathy into organisations. Sarah says we're empathy practitioners, we help bring context and behaviours to other people.

We need empathy now more than ever because we're making decision with AI and big data and there needs to be humanity injected into those decisions

A brief history of the word 'Empathy'

Empathy is a prerequisite to evolution, survival of the kindest.

When we were a prelingual society the ability to recognise fear or disgust was important for our survival.

A very brief delve into neuroscience, Sarah is sharing some of the research but definitely not all of it!

Empathy is hard wired.

There was a study that people with Botox were unable to mimic the micro expressions and care slightly less about the person you were speaking with (Dermal fillers are the way to go apparently)

Emotional empathy:

Feeling how others feel

An automatic drive we have to respond to another's emotions

A trait rather than a skill

Cognitive Empathy (we can learn)

Understanding another's perspective
A conscious drive to accurately understand another

A skill that is learnt

Caveat—you have to be aware of your own bias in reading another's emotions.

Without the emotional aspect of empathy, it can be used to manipulate and torture people.

Tribalism: in group we can be very empathetic, Out group we can other people and not care about them

There needs to be a balance between emotional and cognitive Empathy and a deep self reflection

Sarah is getting everyone to do the contagious yawn experiment.

Just talking about this made me yawn.

Apparently you're more likely to yawn when you within your own group than with an out group.

Empathy represents the foundational skill for all social competencies.

How do you judge empathy within an organisation?

Harvard Business Review create the empathy index, in 2016 Facebook was at the top of the list

Sarah's hypothesis was that those who work in and around design research were the right people to plead the change in an organisation and create more caring organisations.

She's come to the conclusion that is not the case.

Some responses from Sarah's research.

Sarah's parting points.

Empathy in practice starts with self awareness.

We're doing a mindfulness practice to bring everyone into the moment and be present.

Listening is a core principle of empathy. Listening with your ears, eyes and heart.

Aspect of the empathic mindset.

There are so many biases you carry so being aware of yourself is important.

.@indiyoung says that empathy in design research is a two stage process.

Fully develop understanding through listening

Apply empathy by finding patterns

(Sorry for the bad paraphrase Indi!)

More from India's boom Practical Empathy

Individual recommends using "I" instead of the third person when telling your stories.

How to be a catalyst for change:

Give the stakeholder the same care you would give a customer.

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