This document provides an overview of an interview conducted to understand a person's meaning of caring. The interviewee, a teenager, described caring as involving love and wanting to be there for others. They gave the example of parents caring for children by providing for their needs. The interviewee's view of caring was shaped by their early experience of being cared for after foot surgery by family members. They recognized the idea of "natural caring" from scholar Nel Noddings' work. The interviewee believed a caring, nonviolent society would have less conflict and emphasized eliminating discrimination. The interview provided insights into how understanding of caring can vary by age and experience.

1. Running head: Caring and the human experience in society 1
Caring and the human experience in society 5Caring and the
Human Experience in Society: The Analyzation and
Interpretation of an Interviewee’s Meaning of Caring
Student
Gwynedd Mercy University
Caring and the Human Experience in Society: The Analyzation
and Interpretation of an Interviewee’s Meaning of Caring
Caring is displayed through kindness and the concern for others.
Caring, or kind-heartedness, can also be an attitude that allows
the individual to not only be exposed to other individuals’
thoughts and emotions, but also to be open and nonjudgmental
to another individual’s hardships. For example, there are two
types of caring according to scholar Nel Noddings: caring-for
and caring-about (Smith, 2004). When we care for someone, we
are present and physically there for the individual to lean on.
When we care-about someone, or an idea, we do not have to be
physically present to show our concerns. Therefore, caring has
multiple meanings due to multiple perspectives of the
individual. The meaning of the term caring can differ based on
the individual’s age and one’s experiences in life. For that
reason, an interview of an adolescent was recently conducted to
show that one’s meaning of caring will vary based on one’s
development in life. This discussion will be connected to the
thoughts and ideas of three well-known caring scholars.
The first question in the interview asked the interviewee to
describe what it means to care for another human being. The
interviewee answers by stating that caring for another human
being involves love and wanting to be there for the person. One
example of caring that the interviewee used to further explain
his meaning of caring related to the parent to child relationship.
He said that “when you care for someone you buy them clothes,
make sure they are safe, make sure they are comfortable, and

2. have what they need” (TN, personal communication, March 2,
2017). This hinted at the idea that caring had to start somewhere
for the interviewee. For example, the interviewee may have
learned what it means to care for another human being by
recognizing how his parents and family cared for him first.
The interviewee’s meaning of caring also relates closely to his
first memory of being cared for. He said that after he had
surgery on his foot both of his sisters and his grandmother cared
for him around the clock after he left the hospital. He described
this time in his life as one of the most painful, yet eye-opening
experience in his life. So, today, he may understanding what
caring Scholar Nel Noddings calls natural caring. “Natural
caring is a longing for goodness that arises out of the
experience or memory of being cared for” (Smith, 2004, para.
3). Nel Noddings often spoke about natural caring in order to
assess one’s ability to be both sympathetic and empathetic when
“engaging in caring encounters” (Smith, para. 4).
The idea of natural caring is also seen when the interviewee
speaks about nonviolence and how nonviolent human beings
usually gives everyone a chance. He continues by stating that “a
nonviolent human being sees everyone equally and does not
shot or kill anyone” (TN, personal communication, March 2,
2017). However, this could be viewed as a very broad
statement. If the interviewee thought more critically, he could
have better answered the question by also thinking about why it
is important to be a nonviolent human being.
Therefore, the next question— why should society care about
people or care for them? — forced the individual to think
deeply in order to bring out his “ah-ha” moment. So according
to the interviewee, “if we actually enjoy helping each other then
there would be less hate and negativity in society. Although, on
the other hand, if society continues not to care about other
people, our society will continue to be selfish and still be
known as the doggy-dog world that people claim it is today”
(TN, personal communication, March 2, 2017). Then, he added
that without a caring society, people in this world would form

3. less relationships, miss out on making connections or
connecting with others, and lack both sympathy and empathy for
each other. Plus, in some cases, some of the most careless or
ignorant individuals can be the people who are closest to the
individual.
In Jennifer Worth’s (2002) short story, Of Mixed Decent, the
writer showed the reader that the person closest to another
individual can hurt one unintentionally too. This happens
because for one moment the person may only be thinking about
their own desires and not how their actions can impact another
individual as a result. Hence, if the interviewee had read
Jennifer Worth’s short story, he would agree that how we care
for someone or how we care about society can have both a
short-term and long-term effect on an individual’s life.
Consequently, when it comes to the relationship between caring
and nonviolence, a good relationship between caring and
nonviolence must involve peace, love, and happiness, according
to the interviewee. Furthermore, in order to create a more caring
and less violent society, he acknowledges that we have to
eliminate discrimination. Specifically, “we have to eliminate
discrimination in the work field, create more jobs for felons and
young adults, and think less about hurting an individual and
care more about guiding or helping each other” (TN, personal
communication, March 2, 2017). In order to be more caring and
less violent, we also have to be resilient. If society or the
people that make up our society establish or recognize the
relationship between caring and resilience than it is less likely
for people to ignore the beauty of another individual’s
differences. Caring scholar Oliver Sacks (1995) defined this
relationship by showing viewers the beauty of an individual’s
brain. He showed us that resilience can allow autistic
individuals to learn to love and care for others even though they
are afraid of something as simple as a hug. Plus, by being
resilient, one can help another person become resilient by
encouraging them to face their fears and understand what is
meaningful to them.

4. This interview opened my eyes to the idea that caring is a skill.
Caring is a talent that people either do naturally, or think more
about because there are different approaches to care. However,
one key insight that I gained about caring from my interviewee
is that “caring is not an obligation” (TN, personal
communication, March 2, 2017). At some point in the interview,
he implied that people do not have to care about society because
he compared it to the fact that most people are private and do
not want help. I did not agree with this statement, but this made
me think more about the fact that care or caring is not a popular
topic. Today, people use history and politics to stress a tragedy
or an on-going situation, yet they do not simply talk about the
act of caring to resolve the problem. Another insight I gained
about caring after completing the interview is that caring will
always be defined differently no matter how old the individual
is. For example, as we got further into the interview, I tried to
advise my interviewee to think critically and give more
information, but he explained to me that the questions are really
simple. He told me that if I think too hard about the topic or try
to make too many connections, I am actually taking away from
the meaning of the term, and this is how ideas become
confusing (TN, personal communication, March 2, 2017)!
Furthermore, I did relate to his comment about his first memory
of being cared for and how he described it to be an eye-opening
experience. For example, I had surgery in my mouth when I was
in second grade and I remember being in pain, but I tried to
think less about the pain because all of my family was
surrounding me in the hospital bed to make sure I saw how
much they cared about me.
One of the most surprising comments that my interviewee made
is when he said that the relationship of caring and nonviolence
involves peace, love, and happiness. This took me by surprise
because I did even know how to answer this question, yet he
said it almost automatically. Thus, he made something so
complex sound simple again!
Conclusion missing from this essay

5. References
Sacks, O. (1995). An Anthropologist on Mars. Retrieved from:
https://blackboard.gmercyu.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-1073687-dt-
content-rid-
3802670_1/courses/Fall2017_SEM453_DA/oliver%20sacks.pdf
Smith, M. K. (2004). Nel Noddings, the ethics of care and
education’, the encyclopedia of informal education.
[http://infed.org/mobi/nel-noddings-the-ethics-of-care-and-
education/. Retrieved: September 16, 2015]
Worth, J. (2002). The Midwife: A memoir of birth, joy, and
hard times. New York: Penquin Books.
Run
ning head:
CARING AND THE HUMAN
EXPERIENCE IN SOCIET
Y
1
Caring and the Human Experience in Society: The Analyzation
and Interpretation of an
Interviewee’s Meaning of Caring
S
tudent
Gwynedd Mercy University
Running head: CARING AND THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE IN
SOCIETY 1
Caring and the Human Experience in Society: The Analyzation
and Interpretation of an
Interviewee’s Meaning of Caring

6. Student
Gwynedd Mercy University
Assignment 3 - Risk Assessment (Environment Stream)
Due date: Friday 27th September 2019 Marks: 50%
Word Limit: 2,500 words
Question:
The previous assignments have focussed on the conduct of risk
assessments and the necessity to
consider whether the process is always the most preferred.
Issues such as risk perception,
identification of stakeholders and communication were also
addressed. For the final assignment,
you will need to undertake the following.
For this assignment, you are assuming that you have been
engaged by an organisation to provide
them with a project scoping document for the conduct of an
ecological risk assessment.
Select an environmental issue that is of interest to you. This
could be something to do with
climate change, a particular species or ecosystem, a waste
management issue for a specific
material or treatment type, managing of resources such as water
etc.

7. For this identified issue you will need to develop the scoping
document for them to approve the
commencement s of the risk assessment. This scoping
document should detail what is included
and/or excluded from the project:
1. The scope of the project - including stakeholders
2. Outline of the proposed methodology to conduct the
ecological risk assessment
3. Details on the project team - what specialisations/professions
would you include when and
why
4. What data would you need to collect/collate and how would
this be undertaken (eg.,
timeframes and equipment needs)
5. Where would other data sources be located in order to fully
identify the hazards and to
develop a risk rating for them
6. What would be the process for validating data obtained
7. Summarise the use of any other decision making tool that
may be used (eg., life cycle
assessment, health risk assessment), and explain why these tools
(if at all), would be used

8. 8. Describe the process for prioritising the risks to the issue
9. Outline a participation/communication strategy for identified
stakeholders to ensure they
fully understand the rationale for the risk management approach
as well as them being
provided with the opportunity to input into the decision making
process
10. Describe the media influences to both the stakeholders and
the ultimate risk management
approach
11. Describe a monitoring and review program that would be
used following development and
adoption of the risk management strategy (note that you are not
developing the risk
management strategy)
Nel Noddings’ reading
Caring
Nel Noddings is closely identified with the promotion of the
ethics of care, – the argument that caring should be a foundation
for ethical decision-making. Her first major work Caring (1984)

9. explored what she described as a ‘feminine approach to ethics
and moral education’. Her argument starts from the position that
care is basic in human life – that all people want to be cared for
(Noddings 2002: 11). She also starts from the position that
while men and women are guided by an ethic of care, ‘natural’
caring – ‘a form of caring that does not require an ethical effort
to motivate it (although it may require considerable physical
and mental effort in responding to needs)’ can have a
significant basis in women’s experience (ibid.: 2). ‘Natural
caring’, thus, is a moral attitude – ‘a longing for goodness that
arises out of the experience or memory of being cared for’
(Flinders 2001: 211). On this basis Nel Noddings explores the
notion of ethical caring – ‘a state of being in relation,
characterized by receptivity, relatedness and engrossment’ (op.
cit.).
Sympathy
What caring actually means and entails is not that easy to
establish. Nel Noddings’ approach is to examine how caring is
actually experienced (what we might describe as a
phenomenological analysis). She asks “what are we like” when
we engage in caring encounters? ‘Perhaps the first thing we
discover about ourselves’, she continues, ‘is that we are
receptive; we are attentive in a special way’ (Noddings 2002:
13). This attention shares some similarities with what Carl
Rogers describes as ’empathy’ (see Carl Rogers. core conditions
and education). However, Noddings is cautious as ’empathy’ is
‘peculiarly western and masculine’ in its Western usage (op.
cit.). Instead she prefers to talk about ‘sympathy’ – feeling with
– as more nearly capturing ‘the affective state of attention in
caring’ (ibid.: 14).
Receptive attention is an essential characteristic of a caring
encounter. The carer is open to what the cared-for is saying and
might be experiencing and is able to reflect upon it. However,
there is also something else here – motivational displacement.
In other words, the carer’s ‘motive energy’ flows towards the
‘cared-for’. The carer thus responds to the cared-for in ways

10. that are, hopefully, helpful. For this to be called ‘caring’ a
further step is required – there must also be some recognition on
the part of the cared-for that an act of caring has occurred.
Caring involves connection between the carer and the cared-for
and a degree of reciprocity; that is to say that both gain from
the encounter in different ways and both give.
A caring encounter, thus, has three elements according to Nel
Noddings:
1. A cares for B – that is A’s consciousness is characterized by
attention and motivational displacement – and
2. A performs some act in accordance with (1), and
3. B recognizes that A cares for B. (Noddings 2002: 19)
We could say that a caring person ‘is one who fairly regularly
establishes caring relations and, when appropriate maintains
them over time’ (op, cit.).
Caring-about and caring-for
Nel Noddings helpfully, also, highlights the distinction between
caring-for and caring-about. Thus far, we have been looking
largely at caring-for – face-to-face encounters in which one
person cares directly for another. Caring-about is something
more general – and takes us more into the public realm. We may
be concerned about the suffering of those in poor countries and
wish to do something about it (such as giving to a development
charity). As Noddings initially put it, caring-about involves ‘a
certain benign neglect’. She continued, ‘One is attentive just so
far. One assents with just so much enthusiasm. One
acknowledges. One affirms. One contributes five dollars and
goes on to other things’ (Noddings 1984: 112). However, in her
later works Nel Noddings has argued that caring-about needs
more attention. We learn first what it means to be cared-for.
‘Then, gradually, we learn both to care for and, by extension, to
care about others’ (Noddings 2002: 22). This caring-about,
Noddings argues, is almost certainly the foundation for our
sense of justice.
The key, central to care theory, is this: caring-about (or,
perhaps a sense of justice) must be seen as instrumental in

11. establishing the conditions under which caring-for can flourish.
Although the preferred form of caring is cared-for, caring-about
can help in establishing, maintaining, and enhancing it. Those
who care about others in the justice sense must keep in mind
that the objective is to ensure that caring actually occurs.
Caring-about is empty if it does not culminate in caring
relations. (Noddings 2002: 23-4)
From this we can see that caring-about is a significant force in
society. As well as being an important feature of our sense of
justice, it also contributes to the cultivation of social capital.
We learn to care-about, according to Nel Noddings, through our
experience of being cared-for. Instead of starting with an ideal
state or republic, care theory starts with an ideal home and
moves outward – ‘learning first what it means to be cared for,
then to care for intimate others, and finally to care about those
we cannot care for directly’ (Noddings 2002: 31).
Source
Smith, M. K. (2004). Nel Noddings, the ethics of care and
education’, the
encyclopaedia of informal education. [http://infed.org/mobi/nel-
noddings-the-ethics-of-care-and-education/. Retrieved:
September 16, 2015].
© Mark K. Smith 2004
SEM 453 Caring and the Human Experience in Society
Interview Grading Rubric
Prompt
Comments
Introduction
(1 pts)

12. Inclusion of an Introduction.
Identification of focus and purpose.
Discussion of relevance.
Clear and logical sequencing of information.
Summary of Interview
(4 pts)
Clear and logical sequencing of information.
Content is included in response to all six Interview Questions
Class Connections
(2 pts)
Incorporation of connections to the ideas of one the scholar and
one theme at a minimum through citation of appropriate
sources.
Students may incorporate connections to more than one scholar
or theme.
Interview Reflection
( 3 pts)
Clear and logical sequencing of information.
Content is included in response to all three Reflection Prompts

13. Conclusion
(1 pt)
Inclusion of a Conclusion; reflects purpose and main ideas.
Clear and logical sequencing of information.
Grammar, Structure, Spelling, Criteria
(2 pt)
All grammar and spelling is correct.
No problems with understanding what is meant
Content is included to meet page minimum and maximum limits,
as well as total page minimum
Title page
Formatted as directed
Inclusion of in-text citations as necessary
Completed on time