I found this post from Marc Stoiber, blogging at the Huffington Post interesting not so much because he mentioned empathy, but rather the means he suggests using a system of understanding human values called spiral dynamics, first uncovered by Clare Graves, former Professor of Psychology at Union College in Schenectady, N.Y. Stoiber writes:
These differing worldviews are usually a factor of:
1. Different values lenses – different shades of values people have, which give them different perspectives on a story.
2. Different filtering styles – individual means of screening information based on triggers and internal sorting mechanisms.
3. Degrees of social optimism – Ways of interpreting realities based on the optimism or pessimism of the viewer.
Renowned social psychologist Clare Graves was an innovator in this field, breaking down audience worldviews according to eight levels of evolving human behavior systems.
1. Autistic thinking. Traced back to 40,000 BC, this type of thinking was characterized by living in the moment, and feeling helpless before the terror of nature. A strong desire to live in tribal units for security helped mankind evolve beyond this behavior.
2. Tribal thinking. Post 40,000 BC. Civilization was tribal, and suffocated by tribal rules. The chief factor contributing to the demise of this behavior system was the desire to break free and set out on journeys of self-determination.
3. Heroic thinking. 8000 BC. A behavior system favored by early conquerors like Atilla, Genghis – but very much alive today in dictators and gang lords. This form of thinking favors taking what one wants, creating empire, and domination. Clearly not a form of thinking for the meek, it was largely supplanted by the search for deeper meaning and a true, spiritual leader.
4. Absolutistic thinking. 4000 BC. A backlash against heroic thinking, absolutism favored the clarity and discipline of rigid morality. Honor, self-sacrifice, a fear of contradiction and a strict code of behavior characterize this behavior system. Today, absolutism is personified in conservative thinkers….
I’ve found spiral dynamics a great inroad to empathizing especially with people whose value systems appear to differ from my own. One note of caution: I’ve noticed the temptation to pigeonhole people into these categories when in fact these memes are tendencies we possess rather than hard categories we act upon.
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