Changes in Interpersonal Curiosity and Perceived Common Humanity in the Course of an Interviewing and Listening Intervention

• In Event: Strength-Based Approaches to Cultivate Social and Emotional Skills and Ethical Character in Middle School Students

Abstract

Middle school students in American schools are experiencing a crisis of human connection, illustrated by the rising indices of depression, bullying, loneliness, and social isolation (Child Trends Databank, 2016). An emerging body of the science of human connection (Way, Ali, Gilligan, & Noguera, 2018) suggests that fostering interpersonal curiosity – generating exploratory questions to seek new information about other people – may be a key tool for breaking dehumanizing stereotypes by replacing judgment with curiosity, which in turn would increase connection. Yet, there are limited school-based interventions that attempt to foster greater connection to self and others by directly addressing stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination. Furthermore, there is a dearth in the development of evaluative tools designed to assess both interpersonal curiosity and connection among early adolescents in school contexts.

The Listening Project is a 6-week, 26-lesson, classroom-based educational intervention designed to address increasing societal divisions through semi-structured interview training with middle school students and their teachers. The theory of change is that the project would increase levels of listening skills and interpersonal curiosity, which in turn would be positively associated with increased levels of empathy, perceived social support, and perceived common humanity across gender, race, religion, and age. The present study introduced new methods of assessing perceived common humanity and interpersonal curiosity among middle school students. It also investigated the following questions:

1. Do students demonstrate increased interpersonal curiosity and perceived common humanity after participating in the Listening Project?
2. Are the changes in interpersonal curiosity and perceived common humanity moderated by gender?

This non-randomized pre-post pilot study (which does not capture causation) focused on 227 seventh-graders (Mage=12.65, SD=0.71; 47% female; 43% Asian American, 18% Latinx, 18% White, 15% Black, 5% Other) in four public middle schools in NYC. Students’ interpersonal curiosity and perceived common humanity were assessed before and after the implementation of the intervention using two newly developed measures: 1) Perceived Common Humanity scale (PCHS), a 12-item instrument that assesses adolescents’ perceived similarities with different groups of people across gender, race, religion, and age (a=.86); and 2) Interpersonal Curiosity Survey Instrument (IPCSI), a qualitative instrument that solicits actual questions adolescents want to ask of others in open-ended response format. Confirmatory bi-factor analysis evidenced the best model fit relative to a unidimensional factor structure of the PCHS items (RMSEA=0.16; CFI=0.95; TLI=0.88; SRMR=0.06; Figure 1). Five dimensions of the target of curiosity were developed using a content coding approach (i.e., Curiosity about self, Curiosity about others, Curiosity about relationships, Curiosity about others’ social networks, and Information Seeking; Table 1); Cohen’s Kappa of 20% of the sample was from .86 to .90, indicating a substantial agreement between two coders.

Preliminary findings suggest that students, on average, demonstrated increases in their perceived common humanity and curiosity about self and others at the end of the project; however, there were no significant differences in change by gender. Results are discussed in relation to the importance of a relational-based approach to supporting middle school students’ interpersonal curiosity and connection, as well as implications for practice.

Authors

• Jinjoo Han, New York University
  Presenting Author

• Crystal Clarke, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Niobe Way, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Hirokazu Yoshikawa, New York University
  Non-Presenting Author