In this collaborative project between the charity organisation People United and the University of Kent (funded by the Arts Council England), Professor Dominic Abrams and Dr Julie van der Vyver explored the role of arts in increasing prosocial tendencies.
The researchers pay particular attention to the role of empathy, learning, values and connections in increasing prosocial tendencies. This research project involved extensive work with local communities, schools and the general UK population.
This project has important implications for practitioners, arts professionals, policy makers, researchers, funders, and all those who have a passion for building kinder, more caring communities, whether that is in a school, a high street, an estate or a neighbourhood, a town, a city, online and off.
More about Professor Dominic Abrams
Full text of paper
People United report
Related coverage, People United and University of Kent
About
“The arts can entertain and delight us. They make us think and feel. They can challenge, surprise, disrupt, provoke and cause offence.” (Broadwood, Bunting, Andrews, Abrams & Van de Vyver, 2010, p. 10). Importantly, the arts transcend geographic and historic boundaries. They are used in all parts of the world and can help us tell stories of who we are and how we live.
Many people have believed that the arts can have profound effects, both positive and negative. But do the arts have the potential to create the conditions for greater kindness?
Research objectives
The primary objectives were:
- To examine whether there is a direct link between arts and prosociality
- To examine what are the processes/mediators that underlie the link between arts and prosociality (particular focus is paid on empathy, values, learning and connections)
Programme and methodology
Three types of data were collected in this project:
- School-level data (Researchers collaborated with schools from local communities)
- Community-level data
- Society-level data
Arts Interventions for every level (examples):
- School-level Intervention: ‘kindness weeks’ (e.g., poetry, singing, drawing etc).
- Community-level Intervention: Best of Us festival
- Open access household panel data: ESRC funded; Understanding society survey
Impact
- This project offered new and important information on understanding the role of arts in reducing prejudice.
- This project suggests to policymakers and educators that if wish to sustain cohesive and inclusive societies, increasing access to, and engagement in, the arts from an early age may be a valuable means of doing so.
- Findings encourage policy-makers to embed arts programmes across the curriculum.
- This project offers new and important insight on the link between arts and the reduction of prejudice in children.