DOI: 10.21764/maeuefd.1942150 ISSN: 1302-8944

The effect of Philosophy for Children on cognitive empathy: An experimental study

Rumeysa Uluurgun
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The claim that the education system, which must adapt to changing societal needs and advancing technology, is inadequate in developing students’ life skills remains a current debate today.In this context, the Philosophy for Children (P4C) approach, developed under the leadership of Matthew Lipman and integrated into educational programs in many countries, has attracted attention. P4C aims not only to transfer knowledge but also to create meaningful understanding, to improve students’ thinking skills, and to raise them as democratic individuals. This study examined the effect of the P4C program on the cognitive empathy skills of 4th grade primary school students. A quasi-experimental pretest–posttest control group design was used. The research was conducted with 40 students in a public school in Alanya, Antalya. The experimental group participated in P4C sessions for six weeks, while the control group continued with the regular curriculum. Data were collected using the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test developed by Baron-Cohen et al. (2001). Findings showed that P4C positively supported students’ cognitive empathy. While most studies in the literature focus on thinking skills, research on social-emotional skills such as empathy is limited. Therefore, this study is expected to contribute to the limited research on cognitive empathy.

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