Exploring the Relationship Between Cultural Orientations and Empathy Among Arab-Palestinian Teachers in Israel: A Mixed-Method Study

Abstract

This study examined cultural orientations (vertical and horizontal collectivism and individualism) and their relations with cognitive and emotional empathy toward students among 188 Palestinian-Arab teachers in Israel. A mixed-methods study that included quantitative analysis and qualitative interviews with 30 teachers, revealed that this traditional and mostly collectivist population manifested a duality of orientations that is context-dependent and is associated with differences in empathy. The findings suggest that horizontal collectivist orientation is associated with higher cognitive and emotional empathy, while vertical individualism hinders both empathetic dimensions. The findings enrich previous cross-cultural studies and have implications regarding teachers’ training programs.