  Design Thinking workshops are used by companies to help generate new ideas
for technologies and products by engaging subjects in exercises to understand
their users' wants and become more empathetic towards their needs. The "aha
moment" experienced during these thought-provoking, step outside the yourself
activities occurs when a group of persons iterate over several problems and
converge upon a solution that will fit seamlessly everyday life. With the
increasing use and cost of Design workshops being offered, it is important that
technology be developed that can help identify empathy and its onset in humans.
This position paper presents an approach to modeling empathy using Gaussian
mixture models and heart rate and skin conductance. This paper also presents an
updated approach to Design Thinking that helps to ensure participants are
thinking outside of their own race's, culture's, or other affiliations'
motives.
