- Collection:
- Atlanta University and Clark Atlanta University Theses and Dissertations
- Title:
- A study of the effects of training in empathy and meditation upon the empathy and esp scores of undergraduate subjects, 1980
- Creator:
- Roquemore, Gwendolyn Johnston
- Date of Original:
- 1980/1989
- Subject:
- Degrees, Academic
Dissertations, Academic - Location:
- United States, Georgia, Fulton County, Atlanta, 33.749, -84.38798
- Medium:
- theses
dissertations - Type:
- Text
- Format:
- application/pdf
- Description:
- The problem involved in this study was to determine the effects of two different training modalities upon the empathic skills of 42 undergraduate college students who had selected some helping profession as a career goal. An experimental design was developed wherein the 42 subjects were randomly assigned to two experimental groups and a control group. One experimental group was given 16 hours of didactic instructions in empathy skills, the other experimental group was subjected to 16 hours of training in meditation. The control group participated in music listening activities during the training period. Post-test empathy scores for the two experimental groups were compared to each other and to the control group. It was also posited that different interpersonal skills may exist within a single individual in comparable amounts. This probability led to efforts to determine the relationship between empathic ability and extra-sensory perception, which is the ability to perceive through other than the usually identified senses. To obtain the ESP scores the Zener ESP Test was administered to the three groups of subjects. The next step was to find the coefficients of correlation between the ESP scores and the empathy scores. The data of the study were analyzed in the following manner: 1. Group means were computed for the empathy test scores and ESP scores of the subjects. 2. A re-test reliability coefficient was computed for the empathy test scores of all subjects. 3. A randomized block analysis of variance was computed and the appropriate significance levels were determined. 4. The empathy test mean scores for each group were analyzed by the t-test of significance. 5. A Pearson Product Moment Correlation was computed for the empathy test scores and the ESP scores of each group independently. 6. A Pearson Product Moment Correlation was computed for the empathy test scores and the ESP scores of the total group. Findings: Testing of the hypotheses of the study resulted in the following findings: 1. A t-ratio of .66 with 13 degrees of freedom p > .519 was not significant at the .05 level when the mean empathy scores of the empathy group and the control group were compared. 2. A t-ratio of 2.31 with 13 degrees of freedom and p > .038 was significant at the .05 level when the mean empathy scores of the meditation group and the control group were compared. 3. A t-ratio of .88 with 13 degrees of freedom and p < .395 was not significant at the .05 level when the mean empathy scores of the meditation group and the empathy group were compared. 4. An F-ratio of 1.338 was not significant at the .05 level, for the empathy scores of the empathy, meditation, and control group. 5. An r of -.06 with p >.42 was not significant when the empathy scores and the ESP scores of the empathy group were correlated. 6. An r of -.425 with p > .065 was not significant when the empathy scores and the ESP scores of the meditation group were correlated. 7. An r of -.51 with p
Date of award: 8/1/1980
Degree type: dissertation
Degree name: Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Granting institution: Atlanta University
Department: School of Education - Metadata URL:
- http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12322/cau.td:1980_roquemore_gwendolyn_j
- Holding Institution:
- Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library
- Rights: