Middle School Students
2014 A one-semester pilot study of sixty 7th and 8th graders at Metropolitan Arts Institute revealed that both males and females as young as 12 years old find the SI training highly engaging, and can lead to changes in empathy, perspective-taking, and loneliness.
Objectives:
1) To determine whether the fifty 5-minute videos in the SI course were engaging enough to hold the attention of the students.
2) To see if students would act upon the information by reaching out and engaging more with teachers and other students.
3) To obtain student’s written feedback on the program to use in improving and refining the program.
4) To evaluate whether the program elicited changes in empathy, perspective-taking, and loneliness as shown in pre-post self-report measures.
Results: A review of student and teacher feedback at the end of the program revealed that the SI sessions were viewed as highly engaging and useful. Both students and the instructor were enthusiastic in their endorsement of the course. Students also commented on ways to improve each session, both in program content and method of delivery that has led to revisions in each of the
Evidence of improvement include, “Even if relationships are hard, I can work to make them better” [F (1,43)= 4.044, p < .051]: “I have the ability to be compassionate and generous with others” [F (1,43) = 2.973, p < .10]. Perspective-taking (Davis, 1983) showed evidence of improvement for those in the 8th grade class [ t(27) = 2.033, p < .025, one-tailed], but did not improve for those in the 7th grade, suggesting a lower limit on the education and maturity level for participants to detect gains in social intelligence from the program.
Funded by the Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences and the Social Intelligence Institute