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Research

“In society, we generally measure what we treasure. Traditionally, schools have measured children’s competence in subject areas. Roots of Empathy measures the affective side of children’s knowledge, understanding, and attitudes.”

– Mary Gordon, Founder/President, Roots of Empathy

Research on Roots of Empathy

Since 2000, there have been numerous independent evaluations of the effectiveness of Roots of Empathy.

Key research findings show that with the increase in empathy, Roots of Empathy children demonstrate:

  • An increase in social and emotional competencies
  • An increase in prosocial behaviours (such as sharing, helping and including).
  • A decrease in aggressive behaviours, including bullying
  • Greater acceptance towards their peers and an increased perception of a caring and supportive classroom environment.
  • An increase in knowledge of infant development
  • A randomized, longitudinal evaluation conducted by Queen’s University Belfast, Northern Ireland, found that Roots of Empathy had a measurable and positive impact, demonstrating an increase in children’s prosocial behaviour and a reduction in aggressive and difficult behaviour (Connolly, 2018). The study also showed some evidence that the reduction in difficult behaviour may have been sustained for three years beyond program participation.
  • An evaluation of the Roots of Empathy program in Switzerland, 2015-2017, showed a significant decrease in aggression and an increase in empathy in children, when compared with control groups. These results were maintained one year after program completion (Latsch et al, 2017).
  • A randomized, accelerated, longitudinal study conducted in Manitoba, Canada showed a decrease in physical and indirect aggression in children, both immediately and three-years after program completion (Santos et al, 2011). The study also found an increase in prosocial behaviours (sharing, helping, including) in children immediately following the program.

Roots of Empathy Symposia

Roots of Empathy is committed to research and the sharing of research.

We share current and relevant research at our Research Symposia. These events are an opportunity to transfer knowledge from leading-edge scientists to policy makers, educators, social workers, health care providers, parents, students and others who work with children.

We record video of the presentations and produce academic proceedings, all of which you can watch and read here.

Watch the presentations and read the proceedings

Research Advisory Board

Allan Schore

Allan Schore

Ph.D.

Dr. Allan Schore is on the clinical faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. He is the author of four volumes on affect regulation, including his latest, The Science of the Art of Psychotherapy. Dr. Schore is Editor of the acclaimed Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology, and a reviewer or on the editorial staff of 35 journals across a number of scientific and clinical disciplines.
Dan Batson

Dan Batson

Ph.D.

Dan Batson received his Ph.D. in psychology from Princeton University in 1972, was a member of the Department of Psychology at the University of Kansas from 1972-2008, and is a Professor Emeritus there. He now has a courtesy appointment as an Adjunct Professor of Psychology at the University of Tennessee. Dan is the author of The Altruism Question: Toward a Social-Psychological Answer (Erlbaum Associates, 1991), the chapter in The Handbook of Social Psychology (4th ed.) on “Altruism and Prosocial Behavior” (McGraw-Hill, 1998), Altruism in Humans (Oxford University Press, 2011), and What’s Wrong with Morality? (Oxford University Press, 2016).
photo of Tom Boyce

Tom Boyce

Doctor, Professor

Dr. W. Thomas Boyce is Professor Emeritus of Pediatrics and Psychiatry and heads the Division of Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics at the the University of California, San Francisco. He was previously the Sunny Hill Health Centre/BC Leadership Chair in Child Development. He is also Co-Director of CIFAR’s Child and Brain Development Program and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies.
Susanne Denham

Susanne Denham

Ph.D.

Susanne Denham is an applied developmental psychologist and Professor of psychology at George Mason University, with M.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and Ph.D. from University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is also a nationally certified school psychologist. She is the author of two books, Emotional Development in Young Children and, with Dr. Rosemary Burton, Social and Emotional Prevention and Intervention Programming for Preschoolers, as well as numerous scholarly articles and presentations.
Lise Eliot

Lise Eliot

Ph.D.

Lise Eliot is Professor of Neuroscience at the Chicago Medical School of Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine & Science. A graduate of Harvard, she received her PhD in Cellular Physiology & Biophysics from Columbia University and completed a post-doctoral research fellowship in Neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine before turning to public education about brain and gender development. She has published over 60 works, including the books, What’s Going On in There? How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life (Bantam), and Pink Brain, Blue Brain: How Small Differences Grow Into Troublesome Gaps – And What We Can Do About It (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt).
Kimberly A Schonert-Reichl

Kimberly A. Schonert-Reichl

Ph.D.

Dr. Kimberly Schonert-Reichl is an Applied Developmental Psychologist and a Professor in the Human Development, Learning, and Culture area in the Department of Educational and Counselling Psychology, and Special Education at the University of British Columbia. She is also the Director of the Human Early Learning Partnership. She received her MA in Educational Psychology from the University of Chicago, her Ph.D. in Educational Psychology from the University of Iowa, and completed her postdoctoral work as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Fellow in the Clinical Research Training Program in Adolescence at the University of Chicago and the Department of Psychiatry at Northwestern University Medical School. Dr. Schonert-Reichl has over 100 publications in scholarly journals, book chapters, and reports and has edited two books on mindfulness in education, including a co-edited book with Dr. Robert W. Roeser Handbook of Mindfulness in Education: Integrating Theory and Research Into Practice (Springer Press, 2016).

Research Policy Guidelines

These guidelines provide information for individuals interested in conducting research that involves the Roots of Empathy and Seeds of Empathy programs. Roots of Empathy recognizes the significance of evidence-based research and adheres to a best practices research model. The organization will accept research proposals from national and international scientists, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Doctoral candidates.

In an effort to respect the children, classroom teachers, Early Childhood Centre Staff, Instructors, administrators and schools, as well as to limit disruptions to classrooms, it is required that research requests be submitted for approval to the Research Review Committee (RRC) at the Roots of Empathy International office prior to the commencement of any research. The RRC will review submitted research proposals to ensure that the proposed projects meet the defined research criteria. More specifically, the committee will determine whether:

  • the proposed research project is aligned with the established goals of the program,
  • the methodology is appropriate and sound, and
  • the process will not disrupt the programs or the classrooms.

The RRC will notify the applicant(s) regarding the final decision, once the proposal has been reviewed. It should be noted that even if the RRC approves a research project, this does not ensure access to a school or an Early Childhood Centre, as the school and/or centre must be willing to participate in the research study.

Download Research Application Form

Submissions should be directed to the Roots of Empathy Research Review Committee, rrc@rootsofempathy.org

What Scientists Say About Us

“We went out to see a (Roots of Empathy) classroom visit and it was fascinating to me. I could see immediately that the program Mary Gordon had set up was indeed connected to the research that was going on in brain development and pro-social behavior in infants and young children”

Dr. Andy MeltzoffProfessor, Department of Psychology, Co-Director, Univeristy of Washington Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Chair

“You can really see that Roots of Empathy takes research very seriously and I think that the best kind of interventions are those where you really have a good crosstalk between the people on the ground that do the interventions, that understand the needs of children from different backgrounds.”

Dr. Christian KeysersDept. Head, Social Brain Lab, Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NIN). Professor, Social Neuroscience, Dept. of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

“The results we have on prosocial behaviours and aggression…[show] there is significant impact of the program. All the increase that the program affects in children in prosocial behavior comes through the path of increased empathy.”

Dr. David LatschProfessor of Developmental Psychology, Division of Social Work, Bern University of Applied Sciences, Switzerland

“Mary Gordon has created a brilliant strategy for teaching young children the essential skills to see the mind within each person…Empathy in all its forms is encouraged and cultivated in this science-based, emotion-inspiring, life-changing immersion in the inner world of human development.”

Dr. Daniel SiegelClinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA

“Roots of Empathy reminds each student fortunate enough to have this marvelous program of what being vulnerable feels like and how we need to care for each other in this complex world.”

Dr. Daniel SiegelClinical Professor of Psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine and founding co-director of the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA

“The Roots of Empathy Program is solidly grounded in both current advances in developmental psychology and in recent findings in affective neuroscience”

Dr. Allan N SchoreClinical faculty of the Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences and UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine.

“Roots of Empathy models key principles for learning empathy that can be used by anyone who wants to be more empathetic or help their children become that way”

Dr. Bruce PerrySenior Fellow of The Child Trauma Academy, Houston, TX, Professor (Adjunct) in the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago and the School of Allied Health, College of Science, Health and Engineering, La Trobe University, Melbourne, Victoria Australia.

“By providing many opportunities to see skills modeled, to apply these same skills in real-life situations, and to reflect on their learning, the program increases the chances that students will develop competencies that will guide their future behaviours and shape their dispositions.”

Rolheiser and Wallace, 2005

“Roots of Empathy is an effective school-based curriculum for fostering the development of student character.”

Berkowitz and Bier, 2005

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