Episode 4: National Media, Burnout, and Local Government

Political Empathy Lab Podcast

Welcome to Season 2 of the Political Empathy Podcast hosted by Noah Kocher, PEL research team member and undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. In this series of interviews Noah sits down with students who joined the lab for its second phase, a one-week research trip around Pennsylvania last summer (2025), to talk about their experiences of listening deeply to people across the state. We hope our conversations will give you a sense of what we heard from our fellow Pennsylvanians, how we practice our empathetic listening, and what you can learn from our experience. The Political Empathy Lab is directed by Dr. Lia Howard, a political scientist and Fellows Director, SNF Paideia Program. Season 2 has been recorded in the Wexler Recording Studio at Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania. Our producers are Jill Katz, Communications Director, SNF Paideia Program, and Noah Kocher, PEL Research Team Member Phase I + II, and SNF Paideia Fellow. Political Empathy Lab gratefully acknowledges our funding from the Office of the Provost at the University of Pennsylvania and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program at Penn. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Political Empathy Lab Phase II

Welcome to Season 2 of the Political Empathy Podcast hosted by Noah Kocher, PEL research team member and undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. In this series of interviews Noah sits down with students who joined the lab for its second phase, a one-week research trip around Pennsylvania last summer (2025), to talk about their experiences of listening deeply to people across the state. We hope our conversations will give you a sense of what we heard from our fellow Pennsylvanians, how we practice our empathetic listening, and what you can learn from our experience. The Political Empathy Lab is directed by Dr. Lia Howard, a political scientist and Fellows Director, SNF Paideia Program. Season 2 has been recorded in the Wexler Recording Studio at Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania. Our producers are Jill Katz, Communications Director, SNF Paideia Program, and Noah Kocher, PEL Research Team Member Phase I + II, and SNF Paideia Fellow. Political Empathy Lab gratefully acknowledges our funding from the Office of the Provost at the University of Pennsylvania and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program at Penn. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Political Empathy Lab Phase II

Welcome to Season 2 of the Political Empathy Podcast hosted by Noah Kocher, PEL research team member and undergraduate student at the University of Pennsylvania. In this series of interviews Noah sits down with students who joined the lab for its second phase, a one-week research trip around Pennsylvania last summer (2025), to talk about their experiences of listening deeply to people across the state. We hope our conversations will give you a sense of what we heard from our fellow Pennsylvanians, how we practice our empathetic listening, and what you can learn from our experience. The Political Empathy Lab is directed by Dr. Lia Howard, a political scientist and Fellows Director, SNF Paideia Program. Season 2 has been recorded in the Wexler Recording Studio at Kelly Writers House, University of Pennsylvania. Our producers are Jill Katz, Communications Director, SNF Paideia Program, and Noah Kocher, PEL Research Team Member Phase I + II, and SNF Paideia Fellow. Political Empathy Lab gratefully acknowledges our funding from the Office of the Provost at the University of Pennsylvania and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Paideia Program at Penn. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Episode 5: Final Thoughts on Summer 2024

In the fifth and final episode in the series, Final Thoughts on Summer 2024, Dr. Lia Howard reflects on how the summer of 2024 was a profound one for the Political Empathy Lab. While traveling 2,500 miles around Pennsylvania as political sea changes were happening week to week, they had to be both aware of their own emotional reactions to changes in geography, people and the political narratives they were hearing and rearticulating while being attuned to the emotional reactions of others. “It was exhausting. It was exhilarating. And at the end of the day it taught us about ourselves as it taught us about the people and places of Pennsylvania; while giving us additional understanding of national trends. And in all humility, we fully recognize that we still have much to learn about it all.” ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.

Episode 4: National Media, Burnout, and Local Government

In "Episode 4: National Media, Burnout, and Local Government” members of the research team discuss the effect of political media on local politics in Pennsylvania. The students explain ways that political media can cause tension, violence, and political burnout, as well as ways that local governments have focused themselves in a nationally oriented political scene. ---------------------------------------- Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy [https://acast.com/privacy] for more information.