In this article, Rauch presents evidence for the return of human tribalism and the decline in loyalties towards larger institutions, such as countries or nation-states. 

This article describes a social experiment facilitated by CBS This Morning co-host Tony Dokoupil, where he showed Republicans and Democrats the exact same clip of a confrontation between police and protestors. He asked each person who was the aggressor in the situation. Democrats were overwhelmingly more likely to say the police, while Republicans were overwhelmingly more likely to say the protestors. 

The article also references the concept of the "bias blind spot," meaning that individuals often have trouble determining when they are being biased.  

Intercultural learning experts agree that developing empathy for those who are different from us is a key component of intercultural competence. However, are there ever cases where extending empathy would be inappropriate or detrimental? This activity asks participants to consider two sides of one coin: 1. Times when they have extended empathy and connected with people who were different from them; and 2. Moments when they have chosen to not extend empathy. 

This conversation was facilitated at the WISE 2020 conference.

We have been socialized to avoid using always and never when describing others' behavior, but Thiagi challenges us to break the rules and do just that.

This reflective activity will ask participants to imagine another point of view and reflect on empathy. 

This activity is based on Jamil Zaki’s concept of the empathy gym, which he discusses on the podcasts Hidden Brain and Clear + Vivid. In those episodes, Zaki describes how he developed empathic skills as a child of divorced parents with two very different sets of values and priorities. He also discusses the positive and negative aspects of empathy in addition to providing some techniques that anyone could use to increase their level of empathy. This activity adapts one of those techniques, which he calls “Disagree Better,” and provides participants with tools for better understanding and empathizing with individuals who they may disagree with.

This activity focuses on teaching participants how to develop self-care guides that are inclusive of individuals from a variety of backgrounds. 

Using Purdue University President Mitch Daniel's 2018 commencement speech and NPR's "Should We Have Empathy for Those We Hate," this activity explains tribalism and empathy.

This discussion starter challenges participants to reflect upon how we (often unknowingly) put new people into categories. These categories can determine how we form relationships. 

Participants in this activity will describe the cultural and emotional meaning of a song with a person of another culture. 

During this activity, participants, define empathy, consider how perspectives toward empathy changed, examine the difference between empathy and tribalism, and learn what the "dark side of empathy" means. 

Rejection sensitivity, a term that originates in the field of psychology, is when a person expects and reacts intensely to rejection because of past traumatic experiences. This activity aims to examine rejection sensitivity that stems from past experiences related to identity (for example, discrimination based on gender, race, sexuality, etc.). Participants will be asked to think about their own identities and how they might experience or contribute to sensitivity to rejection, for themselves and/or others.

This activity enables participants to define empathy, recognize how we develop empathy for fictional characters, discuss the relationship between empathy and culture, and articulate how empathy for fictional characters might translate to empathy for real people or situations.