Listening

Social-Based Learning and Leadership (SBL): Theory Development and a Qualitative Case Study

Abstract

Social-based learning and leadership (SBL) is an innovative pedagogical approach that centers on enhancing relationships within the educational system to address 21st-century challenges. At its core, SBL aims to help teachers transform into social architects who nurture positive social processes among pupils. Emphasizing prosocial education, SBL lays the foundation for cultivating pro-environmentalism and sustainable behavior by fostering a sense of care and responsibility toward others. SBL’s prosocial education program encompasses social and emotional skills, knowledge, and dispositions to empower pupils to actively engage in and contribute to a more democratic, reciprocal, just, and sustainable society. This approach underscores the importance of education in shaping students’ mindsets and life orientations. By nurturing a sense of interconnectedness and responsibility for the well-being of others, SBL provides a promising avenue to transform education by building more sustainable educational systems, thus contributing to creating a more sustainable future. A qualitative case study, which consisted of 18 in-depth interviews and nine observations, examined the impact of an SBL-based teacher training program at an elementary school from 2020 to 2023. The results point to changes in teachers’ perceptions of their roles as social architects and, more specifically, as facilitators of social, emotional, and cognitive processes. The teachers gained recognition as meaningful adults from their students and transitioned to hold integral positions as part of a supportive and connected school community, associating with colleagues and parents. This study thus showcases patterns of socio-organizational communication that can unfold in a school influenced by the SBL approach. SBL’s emphasis on positive social relationships and empowering teachers as facilitators of holistic student development thus further reinforces its potential to transform education for a sustainable and thriving future.
Guy Itzchakov, Netta Weinstein, Nicole Legate, Moty Amar
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Listening
Theorizing from humanistic and motivational literature suggests attitude change may occur because high-quality listening facilitates the insight needed to explore and integrate potentially threatening information relevant to the self. By extension, self-insight may enable attitude change as a result of conversations about prejudice. We tested whether high-quality listening would predict attitudes related to speakers' prejudices and whether self-insight would mediate this effect. Study 1 (preregistered) examined scripted conversations characterized by high, regular, and poor listening quality. In Study 2, we manipulated high versus regular listening quality in the laboratory as speakers talked about their prejudiced attitudes. Finally, Study 3 (preregistered) used a more robust measure of prejudiced attitudes to testing whether perceived social acceptance could be an alternative explanation to Study 2 findings. Across these studies, the exploratory (pilot study and Study 2) and confirmatory (Studies 1 & 3) findings were in line with expectations that high, versus regular and poor, quality listening facilitated lower prejudiced attitudes because it increased self-insight. A meta-analysis of the studies (N = 952) showed that the average effect sizes for high-quality listening (vs. comparison conditions) on self-insight, openness to change and prejudiced attitudes were, ds = 1.19, 0.46, 0.32 95%CIs [0.73, 1.51], [0.29, 0.63] [0.12, 0.53], respectively. These results suggest that when having conversations about prejudice, high-quality listening modestly shapes prejudice following conversations about it, and underscores the importance of self-insight and openness to change in this process.
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Guy Itzchakov | Sigal Barsade | Arik Cheshin
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Organizational Behavior and Social Psychology
Fostering a culture of companionate love in the workplace offers numerous benefits for employees, yet the methods for achieving this remain unclear. We propose that high-quality listening, characterized by undivided attention, understanding, and a positive and nonjudgmental intention toward the speaker, could be a key facilitator. We hypothesized that such listening could enhance employees' perceptions of companionate love. Additionally, we hypothesized that an enhanced perception of companionate love would increase employees' subjective well-being, resilience, affective commitment, and willingness to cooperate at work. To examine these hypotheses, we conducted four studies. Study 1 was a preregistered and highly-powered field study (N = 752) involving employees from various organizations. Study 2 (N = 37), was a longitudinal research that included a listening training of 16 hours for teachers in a single school. Study 3 was a quasi-field experiment within a risk-management company, with employees receiving 12 hours of listening education while a waitlist served as a control group (N = 67). Study 4 was a quasi-experiment that served as a conceptual replication and extension of Studies 2 and 3. The study involved listening training for employees in a global communications company, providing 14 hours of online listening training. An active control group (N = 60) was included. Across all studies, we found that feeling listened to by colleagues led to increased perceptions of companionate love in the organization, which, in turn, increased employees' subjective well-being, resilience, affective organizational commitment, and willingness to collaborate. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
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