Health coaching and motivational interviewing (MI) are evidence-based approaches to support behaviour change and self-care in people with long-term conditions. Health coaching is a patient-centred process that involves goal setting, self-discovery, health education, and accountability mechanisms. Motivational interviewing is a conversational style that strengthens a person’s own motivation and commitment to change by exploring and resolving ambivalence. Health coaching and MI have been shown to improve health outcomes in various settings and populations, such as addiction, chronic disease, psychological health, oral health, and paediatric care. Health coaching and MI require training and practice to develop the necessary skills and competencies, as well as feedback and supervision to maintain and improve them. Health coaching and MI are important components of Lifestyle Medicine, helping clinicians to facilitate and enable healthy behaviour change.

Although an ancient capacity, empathy is a relatively new concept in the field of psychology. Generally defined, empathy is the ability to imagine what the meanings of emotional experiences are for other beings. This chapter explores empathy as a spectrum of abilities, some responsive and others intentional through emotional and cognitive channels. Readers learn about affective and cognitive empathy and why they are critical for social and emotional intelligences. The author also explores a new concept called empathic humility, to designate a motivation to develop abilities for a lifelong critical self-assessment of cultural meanings and values, reflecting on the privileges of the self, and to explore the worlds of meaning for others in a delicate and sensitive manner.

This chapter introduces readers to the history and concept of social and emotional intelligences. Readers explore the spectrum of social and emotional intelligences that are associated with holistic processes within the organism to understand emotional states, develop social awareness, regulate emotional states, develop empathy, make growth-promoting decisions, and form diverse relationships. The author situates this discussion within a multicultural framework by expanding definitions to be inclusive of diverse cultural perspectives.

An overview of the concepts of changemaking-for good (C4G) and social entrepreneurship is provided. Changers-for-good are individuals who want to change dysfunctional social situations to improve the conditions of the addressees. C4G are not only empathetic with their target population, but also compassionate. As empathy may be also used for negative acts (e.g., manipulation), and compassion per se may have no cognition of the feelings of the other, there emerges a need for a blended phenomenon: empassion. The Empassion Scale (ES) demonstrates good reliability and validity; it also correlates significantly with empathy and compassion scales. An example is Elisabeth Fry of the British Victorian era. She visited prisons for women and introduced changes in the system, providing better care for inmates and the accompanying children. The most representative kind of changemaking-for-good is social entrepreneurship; the term was coined in 1980 by William Drayton, the founding CEO of the global organization Ashoka: Everyone a Changemaker. There seem to be several paradoxes embedded in social entrepreneurs’ approach: First, they merge in-the-air dreaming with down-to-earth ways of implementation. Second, they successfully address protracted, insurmountable problems. Third, they find innovative methods to make it happen. Examples from Kenya, USA, Canada, and Bangladesh are provided.

This chapter explores the bi-directional strengths of autistics in the academy: the strengths that autistic people bring to their role, and the strengths of the university environment as a workplace for academics. Key strengths of autistic people that are beneficial in academic roles include focused interests, attention to detail, pragmatism, and many other aspects that may not be evident in common stereotypes of autism. Strengths of the academic environment as an autistic workplace include the cerebral nature of the role, structured interactions, and the value placed on in-depth knowledge. Combined, these bi-directional strengths are expanded on in the context of the resulting capacity for autistic people in academia to learn, teach, work, help, and connect.

This chapter of the handbook examines the complex relation between empathy and prosociality by drawing on evolutionary theory, neuroscience, psychology, and behavioral economics. The author begins by distinguishing three components of the broader phenomenon of empathy: emotional contagion, empathic concern, and perspective taking. He reviews evidence suggesting that emotional contagion of a conspecific’s pain often leads to helping behavior, but such contagion is modulated by group membership, levels of intimacy, and attitudes toward the other. Empathic concern, too, is a powerful motivator of prosocial behaviors but is also socially modulated – extended to some people more than others and to individuals more than groups. Effortful perspective taking, finally, can provide a better understanding of other people’s minds but does not always generate prosocial behavior, even when it facilitates empathic concern. In sum, various forms of empathy can motivate prosocial behaviors, but empathy is fragile and often stops short of its potential when people engage with large groups, people outside of their tribe, or anonymous strangers.

This chapter of the handbook takes up the issue of moral development in adolescence. The authors’ wide-ranging discussion touches on how differences in temperament, gender, familial and peer relationships, and lived experience influence the timing and outcome of adolescent moral development. Regarding the role of temperament, for example, high-reactive individuals may be more prone to impulsive behavior that violates moral norms, whereas low-reactive individuals may be more likely to conform to moral norms because they are more sensitive to the threat of punishment. On the importance of interpersonal relationships, weak attachment to caregivers in adolescence is associated with impairments of empathy and a greater propensity for antisocial and immoral behavior. Peer influence is another key predictor of both antisocial and prosocial behavior in adolescence. Further, moral development in adolescence critically depends on the maturation of capacities for empathy and self-conscious emotion, a process that is shaped by the individual’s lived experience.

This chapter of the handbook asks whether, and in what ways, emotions can be designated as “moral”. Several emotions have been shown to be associated with moral judgments or moral behaviors. But more than association must be shown if we label some emotions characteristically moral. The author guides the reader through a voluminous literature and applies two criteria to test the moral credentials of emotions. The first criterion is whether the emotion is significantly elicited by moral stimuli; the second is whether it has significant community-benefiting consequences. This second criterion, less often used in past analyses, tries to capture the fact that moral norms, judgments, and decisions are all intended to benefit the community, so moral emotions should too. From this analysis, the author concludes that anger clearly meets the criteria, contempt and disgust less so. Guilt passes easily, and shame fares better than some may expect. Among the positive candidates, compassion and empathy both meet the criteria but are somewhat difficult to separate. Finally, elevation and awe have numerous prosocial consequences, but awe is rarely triggered by moral stimuli.

This chapter reviews research on social cognition and age. This covers self-focused processes, including self-referencing and memory as well as own-age bias and stereotype threat and stigma. Processes focused on other people are also reviewed, including moral judgment, empathy, theory of mind, social interactions and impression formation, memory for impressions, and trust.

Engaging in acts of kindness, such as volunteering and donating, has profound benefits for mental and emotional wellbeing. These actions foster a sense of purpose and fulfilment, enriching both personal lives and communities. Volunteering promotes social responsibility and community cohesion, fostering empathy and personal growth. Research shows that volunteering is associated with greater life satisfaction, reduced symptoms of depression and anxiety, and improved cognitive function, particularly in older adults. The act of giving activates brain regions involved in reward and social attachment, releasing neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin that enhance mood and promote pro-social behaviour. Serotonin levels influence empathy and cooperation, while dopamine reinforces altruistic behaviour. Pro-social actions contribute to a harmonious society, fostering connection, understanding, and mutual support. Despite global challenges, people continue to donate and volunteer, driven by a sense of global responsibility and empathy. Embracing kindness not only benefits others, but also enhances personal wellbeing and satisfaction, regardless of age.