Brief intervention to encourage empathic discipline cuts suspension rates in half among adolescents.
Growing suspension rates predict major negative life outcomes, including adult incarceration and unemployment. Experiment 1 tested whether teachers (n = 39) could be encouraged to adopt an empathic rather than punitive mindset about discipline-to value students' perspectives and sustain positive relationships while encouraging better behavior. Experiment 2 tested whether an empathic response to misbehavior would sustain students' (n = 302) respect for teachers and motivation to behave well in class. These hypotheses were confirmed. Finally, a randomized field experiment tested a brief, online intervention to encourage teachers to adopt an empathic mindset about discipline. Evaluated at five middle schools in three districts (Nteachers = 31; Nstudents = 1,682), this intervention halved year-long student suspension rates from 9.6% to 4.8%. It also bolstered respect the most at-risk students, previously suspended students, perceived from teachers. Teachers' mindsets about discipline directly affect the quality of teacher-student relationships and student suspensions and, moreover, can be changed through scalable intervention.
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305 okonofua@gmail.com.
Jason A
JA
Okonofua
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
David
D
Paunesku
Department of Psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Gregory M
GM
Walton
D000293:Adolescent; D004645:Empathy; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D005178:Faculty / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000517:prevention & control* / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D000297:Psychology, Adolescent; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012919:Social Behavior; D012938:Social Perception; D012944:Social Support; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States
discipline; empathy; respect; school suspensions; teacher–student relationships