Can Brief Empathy Training Increase Sexual Harassment Bystander Intervention Intentions?

Abstract

Sexual harassment (SH) remains widespread in workplaces and academic settings. Traditional compliance-based training has shown limited success in preventing SH or motivating bystander intervention. This study developed and tested a brief online empathy training module that can be completed in under 30 min that aims to help participants better understand and support people who experience SH and increase their willingness to intervene. Two experiments were conducted with U.S. adults recruited from the CloudResearch Connect platform (Study 1: 122 men and 140 women; Study 2: 132 men, 112 women, 4, other gender) who were randomly assigned to complete the SH empathy module, another empathy training module (burglary empathy training), time management training, a standard SH training module, or a waitlist control condition. Measures assessed empathy, perspective taking, and bystander intervention intentions. In Study 1, empathy correlated with bystander intentions, but there were no significant group differences; women reported higher empathy and bystander intentions than men. In Study 2, participants who received SH empathy training demonstrated higher empathy and perspective taking than those in other groups, and empathy improvements were associated with greater willingness to intervene. Gender did not moderate these effects. Overall, findings suggest that integrating a short empathy module into SH prevention programs can enhance readiness to act as supportive bystanders. Future research should assess the longevity of these effects and whether they translate into real-world behavioral change.