As vital as it is to monitor and regulate our own emotional responses, it is also important to understand the emotions and intent of those we interact with. Your unique self is a part of multiple, larger communities. Social awareness is based on the ability to empathize with others, to appreciate differences and create a safe, compassionate environment for interaction. Development of social awareness allows you to manage your relationships in an effective and productive manner, appropriate for the environment you are in.
"Social awareness is the ability to take the perspective of and empathize with others, including those from diverse backgrounds and cultures. It includes walking into a room and understanding the climate and the inner states of people, and knowing whether to speak and, if so, what to say and how to say it." (from Social Emotional Learning and the Brain by M. Sprenger, 2020)
Social awareness begins with active listening. Take the time to understand what is being said and the point of view of those you are communicating with. How To Develop Social Awareness lists actionable ideas you may practice.
In this excerpt from an O Talk with Oprah, Brene Brown speaks on empathy and emotions and how the most effective tool is listening.
Attention and Empathy in Relationships (2014):
See how mindfulness practices train us to embrace our moment-to-moment experience. Learn how this capacity allows us to be with discomfort and to freely tolerate all emotional states, and how this can positively affect our relationships through cultivating empathy, open-mindedness, and mental flexibility. Streams from Kanopy.
Teaching Kids to Care - The Roots of Empathy (2014):
Explore the three interwoven strands of empathy - affective resonance, cognitive perspective taking, and motivation for compassionate behavior. Then, look closely at three more general ways of helping children develop empathy, including challenging empathy exceptions and giving kids a path forward when they behave in unkind ways.
My So-Called Enemy: Celebrating Diversity, Interfaith and Intercultural Understanding (2010):
A coming-of-age film about the vital role of listening and empathy in bridging bridges across personal, cultural, religious, political and gender divides. the award-winning film follows six courageous Palestinian and Israeli teenage girls who participated in a cross-cultural women’s leadership program in the U.S. and documents how the transformative experience of knowing their "enemies" as human beings in US meets with the realities of their lives back home in the Middle East over the next seven years.
