Definitions:
Empathy: The ability to understand and share the feelings of another, fostering connections and compassion. In professional contexts, it involves active listening and being attuned to the emotions and perspectives of others.
Ethics: A set of principles that guide behavior, focusing on what is considered right or wrong. In engineering, ethics emphasizes the responsibility to prioritize public safety, welfare, and sustainability.
Intersection of Empathy and Ethics: Empathy enriches ethical decision-making by providing a deeper understanding of the impacts of decisions on individuals and communities. When engineers incorporate empathy into their ethical framework, they can develop solutions that are not only technically sound but also socially responsible and culturally sensitive.
Examples of ethical dilemmas that benefit from an empathetic perspective:
Safety vs. Cost in Infrastructure Projects: Engineers prioritize safety features for a bridge design by engaging with community concerns, leading to advocacy for necessary investments in safety.
Sustainability vs. Project Requirements: In product development, engineers gather user feedback on environmental sustainability, ultimately opting for eco-friendly materials despite higher costs, aligning with societal values.
Technology Development and User Privacy: A team developing a smart home device prioritizes user privacy by conducting research to understand concerns, leading to stronger privacy protections.
Disparities in Engineering Solutions: Engineers working on a water purification project engage with the community to find cost-effective solutions that meet health needs, demonstrating a commitment to community welfare.
Practical Tools for Incorporating Empathy and Ethics in Engineering Education:
Role-Playing Activities: Encourage students to assume different stakeholder roles in engineering scenarios to foster understanding of diverse perspectives.
Design Challenges with User-Centered Focus: Assign projects that require students to interview real users and incorporate feedback into their designs, emphasizing the importance of user needs.
Reflection Exercises: Have students keep empathy journals where they document experiences, thoughts, and feelings about ethical dilemmas encountered in their coursework or projects.
Collaborative Projects with Community Engagement: Facilitate partnerships with local organizations for projects that address community needs, encouraging students to practice empathy and social responsibility.
Case Studies Discussion: Use real-world case studies to discuss the ethical implications of engineering decisions, allowing students to explore the balance between technical requirements and human impact.
Takeaways:
Empathy is a driver of ethical engineering practice, and as educators, it is within our power to shape the way future engineers view their responsibility to society.
Through activities like Empathy Mapping, ethical case studies, and reflective practice, we can help students build both the technical skills and the human-centered mindset they need to navigate the complexities of the modern world.
Ethics without empathy can lead to decision-making that lacks consideration of human consequences. By integrating empathy, we move beyond merely following ethical codes to truly understanding the human dimension of engineering problems.
As educators, we have the responsibility to foster this mindset in our students. We must equip them not only with technical skills but also with a sense of responsibility toward humanity.
The empathy we engender needs to embrace a broader spectrum of stakeholders and endure beyond the timeframe of a project or traditional deliverables. Craft experiences that enable and sustain transformation on a deep emotional level.
Cultivate a culture of empathy.
I encourage you to bring these ideas back to your classrooms and departments. Let’s make a conscious effort to teach our students that empathy and ethics are not just optional ‘add-ons’—they are essential to good engineering.
Recommended Readings & Resources:
- Active citizenship skills and active digital citizenship skills in teaching and learning in the digital age (2020). European Educational Policy Network report.
- Council of Europe (2019). Handbook of Digital Citizenship Education: Being online, Well-being online, Rights Online. Council of Europe Publishing.
- Bairaktarova, D., & Direito, I. (2024). WIP: Exploring the Nexus of Ethics and Empathy in STEM Higher Education through Faculty and Student Perspectives. In Frontiers of Education Annual Conference proceedings, Washington DC, 13 -16 October 2024.
- Bairaktarova, D., & Direito, I. (2023). Empathy In Engineering and Ethics Education: Resources To Support The Engineering Education Global Community. In European Society of Engineering Education (SEFI) Annual Conference proceedings, Dublin, Ireland, September 2023.
- Bairaktarova, D. (2022), Caring for the future: Empathy in engineering education to empower learning. J Eng Educ, 111: 502-507. https://doi.org/10.1002/jee.20476
- Bairaktarova, D., & Plumlee, D. (2022). Creating space for empathy: Perspectives on challenges of teaching design thinking to future engineers. International Journal of Engineering Education, 38(2), 512-524.
- Bairaktarova, D., Bernstein, W. Z., Reid, T., & Ramani, K. (2016). Beyond Surface Knowledge: An Exploration of How Empathic Design Techniques Enhances Engineers Understanding of Users’ Needs. International Journal of Engineering Education, 32(1(A)), 111–122.
- Cagnon, C. & Cote, V. (2013). Learning from others: a five-year experience on teaching empathic design.
- Covey, S. (2005). The seven habits of highly effective people: restoring the character ethic. New York: Free Press
- Decety, J., & Jackson, P. L. (2006). A Social-Neuroscience Perspective on Empathy. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15(2), 54–58. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0963- 7214.2006.00406.x
- Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., & Spinrad, T. (2006). Prosocial Development. In Handbook of Child Psychology: Social, Emotional, and Personality Development (6th ed., Vol. 3, pp. 646–718). Wiley & Sons.
- Ehrlich, P.R. & Ornstein, R.E. (2012). Humanity on a Tightrope: Thoughts on Empathy, Family, and Big Changes for a Viable Future, New York: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Greeno, J. G. (2011). A Situative Perspective on Cognition and Learning in Interaction. In T. Koschmann (Ed.), (Tran.), Theories of Learning and Studies of Instructional Practice (Vol. 1, 41–71). Springer Science + Business Media.
- Feshbach, N. D., & Feshbach, S. (2011). Empathy and education. In J. Decety & W. Ickes (Eds.), The Social Neuroscience of Empathy (pp. 201–225). The MIT Press.
- Ottino, Julio M., and Gary Saul Morson. 2016. “Building a Bridge between Engineering And the Humanities.” Chronicle of Higher Education,February 14.
- Stephan, W. G. & Finlay, K. (1999). The role of empathy in improving intergroup relations. Journal of Social Issues, Vol. 55 (4), pp. 729 – 743
- Jason W Birkevold Liem, Keep empathy in mind – https://executivesupportmagazine.com/empathy/
- J. Walther, S. E. Miller, and N. W. Sochacka, ‘A Model of Empathy in Engineering as a Core Skill, Practice Orientation, and Professional Way of Being: A Model of Empathy in Engineering’, J. Eng. Educ., vol. 106, no. 1, pp. 123–148, Jan. 2017, doi: 10.1002/jee.20159.
- J. L. Hess, J. Beever, J. Strobel, and A. O. Brightman, ‘Empathic Perspective-Taking and Ethical Decision-Making in Engineering Ethics Education’, in Philosophy and Engineering, vol. 26, D. P. Michelfelder, B. Newberry, and Q. Zhu, Eds., in Philosophy of Engineering and Technology, vol. 26. , Cham: Springer International Publishing, 2017, pp. 163–179. doi: 10.1007/978-3-319-45193-0_13.
- L. Goralnik, K. F. Millenbah, M. P. Nelson, and L. Thorp, ‘An Environmental Pedagogy of Care: Emotion, Relationships, and Experience in Higher Education Ethics Learning’, Journal of Experiential Education, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 412–428, Oct. 2012, doi: 10.1177/105382591203500303.
- E. Corbera, I. Anguelovski, J. Honey-Rosés, and I. Ruiz-Mallén, ‘Academia in the Time of COVID-19: Towards an Ethics of Care’, Planning Theory & Practice, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 191–199, Mar. 2020, doi: 10.1080/14649357.2020.1757891.
- Caring for the Future website: https://empathyenged.com/