What is Emotional Imprint?
Emotional Imprint is a rigorous, K-12 program that teaches students emotional literacy (the ability to read each other’s emotions) and empathic understanding (the ability to inhabit the perspective of another).
Beginning in kindergarten, students learn, practice, and apply the skills necessary to listen to, comprehend, analyze, appreciate, and inhabit the perspective of others.
Emotional Imprint prepares students to:
- Work collaboratively with others
- Assume leadership roles
- Help build a more peaceful world
What is the philosophy of Emotional Imprint?
All of us possess the potential to read the emotions of, reflect on the communications of, and change our reactions to our fellow global citizens.
These behaviors should be taught.
EI is as necessary as reading, writing, and mathematics to be a productive, successful, and caring member of society.
EI, when applied to other disciplines, leads to a deeper, more critical understanding of them.
WhAT happens when this philosophy is put into practice?
When one is able to effectively take the perspective of another, he/she can:
- Articulate more effectively the factors that led to the Cold War
- Understand more deeply the motivations of Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment
- Design a more intuitive cellular phone for consumer use
- Collaborate better with other students on group projects
- Mediate more successfully talks between Arab and Israeli groups
- Design a more relevant training program for new employees
- Help greater numbers of people recover from illness
- Be a more loving partner, better parent, closer friend, more collaborative colleague, caring relative, and more productive citizen of the world
What will students achieve through Emotional Imprint?
As graduates of this program, young adults will be able to communicate productively with others in social, political, governmental, work, and volunteer settings, applying the behaviors that they have developed as children.
Why is Emotional Imprint necessary?
Too many students…
- Graduate from school lacking the skills necessary to be effective leaders
- Treat others whom they perceive to be “different” with suspicion, distrust, fear, and even disdain, all of which leads to divisiveness
- Are quick to react to others, operating from one way of experiencing, feeling, and thinking about the world, leading to conflict
In order to prepare students to be productive, successful, and caring members of a global society, we need to teach them to:
- Think deeply and critically
- Articulate their thoughts and ideas
- Listen actively with openness
- Question their own reactions and opinions
- Exercise diplomacy
- Work collaboratively
What are the components of Emotional Imprint?
- Engaging, user-friendly, interactive, developmentally appropriate curriculum
- Comprehensive training for faculty
- Evaluation tools and processes
What are the educational tools of Emotional Imprint?
- EI’s foundational tool is borrowed from the field of philosophy: the thought experiment
- Lesson plans
- Present realistic scenarios
- Ask students to consider various reasons why different people might behave differently under specific circumstances
- Illustrate how a greater depth of understanding and empathy can lead to more useful responses and positive outcomes
- Related tools include:
- Listening exercises
- Role plays
- Scenarios for verbal and written reflection
- Video segments (for viewing and analysis)
- Literary and historical texts (for reading and analysis)
- Social networking activities
- Creative writing (e.g., dialogues)
- Socratic seminars
- Fishbowl discussions
- Other interactive activities
Thought Experiments: An Essential Tool in the development of 'emotional depth pERception'
'Thought experiments' are one component of our method. Examples of "thought experiment" homework assignments are presented in the following pages. They can be read as a series, or individually. Students are asked to 'stretch' themselves, to think more deeply and, by 'imagining' themeselves in another's shoes, perhaps in a way that is new for them.
Return to the previous page >>
Read a series of Thought Experiments >>
Meet the EI educational team >>
Join a discussion forum at Waging Dialogue™ and participate in the envisioning of this new educational track >>