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Empathy development through role-taking as the developmental tool for forming ecocentric environmental values in early childhood

Design · All designs
Evidence · 1 claim (1 for) · 1 study (1 design), q2 · 0 of 1 report an effect size · 1 claim rests on one study

Description

The article's explanatory framework holds that empathy is both an inherent and a social capacity that "requires cognitive achievements and therefore can be developed". Role-taking, especially affective role-taking, is the main precondition for empathic arousal; techniques such as children's literature, dramatization, anthropomorphism and inductive discussion cultivate the perspective of non-human others. Empathy toward nature is treated as a key variable for responsible environmental behavior and a vehicle for ascribing intrinsic value to non-human beings.

Design Implications

Context

Requirements

  • Direct contact with the natural environment so the lived experience of observing a person in need makes empathy spring out
  • Developmentally appropriate techniques such as role-playing, literature and simulation games

Constraints

  • Empathy is positioned as a tool for value formation at preschool age, not an end in itself

Target Learners

  • preschool children aged five

Learning Goals

  • empathy toward non-human beings
  • ecocentric environmental values
  • pro-environmental behavior

Claims

Examples

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Key Sources

  • Lithoxoidou, L. S., Georgopoulos, A. D., Dimitriou, A. Th., & Xenitidou, S. Ch. (2017). “Trees have a soul too!” Developing Empathy and Environmental Values in Early Childhood. International Journal of Early Childhood Environmental Education, 5(1). https://naaee.org
Page metadata
Field Value
type design
id empathy-role-taking-ecocentric-values-framework
title Empathy development through role-taking as the developmental tool for forming ecocentric environmental values in early childhood
description The article's explanatory framework holds that empathy is both an inherent and a social capacity that "requires cognitive achievements and therefore can be developed".
status review
generated by process:settle-candidates on 2026-11-02
trust unverified — no one has confirmed this page's content
sources 1 — lithoxoidou-2017

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