There are many different forms of Role Play and Simulations.
"ROLE-TAKING OR ROLE-PLAYING. Activities which call for children or adults to assume the role of a real or fictional person and to imagine or act out that person's feelings and/or behavior are effective in increasing both affective and cognitive empathy
(Barak, et al. 1987;
Black and Phillips 1982;
Herbek and Yammarino 1990;
Kremer and Dietzen 1991;
Morgan 1983; and U
nderwood and Moore 1982).
Increases in empathy are noted even when children are asked to imagine the point of view of an animal, plant, or inanimate object.
A special case of role-taking and identification of similarities with others is a collection of activities which has been used to increase able-bodied students' UNDERSTANDING OF AND EMPATHY FOR THE PHYSICALLY HANDICAPPED."
" Gallo goes on to explain that "the attributes which characterize empathy correlate with those of effective critical thinking and imagination" (p. 114). She notes that role-taking, a key feature of empathy training, engenders the kinds of mental habits we associate with astute thinking.
Roletaking:
Fosters insight into different perspectives and promotes genuine open-mindedness
Discourages hasty and superficial problem examination
Facilitates construction of more fully elaborated-- and frequently novel--problem models
Discourages belief rigidity
Encourages cognitive and personal flexibility
Practices persistent probing, engaged examination of an issue in alternation with flexible relinquishment and reflective distance (p. 112-113)." (Gallo 1989).
"Gallo, D. "Educating for Empathy, Reason and Imagination." THE JOURNAL OF CREATIVE BEHAVIOR 23/2 (1989): 98-115.
Argues that, although empathy is sometimes thought to be an emotional response that is unrelated or possibly detrimental to reasoning, empathy in fact fosters both creative and critical thinking, and thus developing it should be adopted as an important educational goal."
Article/Video: Male politicians in Japan get ‘pregnant’ in order to develop empathy with overworked mothers
"wearing 16-pound pregnancy suits that mimic being seven months pregnant."
Video: The Try Guys Try Labor Pain Simulation • Motherhood: Part 4
"The Try Guys endure the miracle of life and it hurts like a bitch. The fourth in a special five-part series exploring motherhood".
Video: Two men and a baby! Labor pain simulator helps men understand child birth
"Two men use labor simulation to prove their wives 'exaggerate' agony of childbirth - and painful realization that they couldn't be more wrong is caught on film"
She becomes the character. Embodies the nuances of the person she is being. She is also a big supporter of empathy and talks about it.
"Empathy is at the heart of the actor's art. And in high school, another form of acting took hold of me. I wanted to learn how to be appealing. So I studied the character I imagined I wanted to be that of the generically pretty high school girl. I researched her deeply, that is to say shallowly, in Vogue, in Seventeen, and in Mademoiselle Magazines."
Patricia Moore - a female young designer dressed up as an 80 year old to experience what it was like and then designed produts that would address the needs of people in that age group.
Black like Me - A white author changed the color of his skin to black to see what it was like to live as a black man.
Poverty simulation builds empathy for struggling Alabama public school students
"A group of Alabama educators in our area want to be sure they understand their students’ lives outside of school in order to provide them the best experiences inside the classroom. That’s why Chambers County, Lanett City, and Roanoke City School Systems recently joined together for a poverty simulation."