8.12 Empathy

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In a social setting, some individuals may “see” or “feel into” other people—even strangers they might otherwise avoid interacting with—from a different perspective and level of recognition, without adding their own biases or self-influences.

This fundamental aspect of social interactions is called empathy—the ability to vicariously experience and to understand the affect of others.

For example, when the empathizer observes someone grieving, perhaps for a deceased pet, they may apply a bit of imagination and meaning from a relatable experience to be fully aware of the suffering that the other person is going through.

On one hand, actually feeling the severe devastation and despair of that person is known as affective empathy. In this example, due to the adverse context, the process is referred to as negative empathy.

On the other hand, to express another distinction, cognitive empathy, the observer understands the emotions that someone else is feeling through that person’s point of view.

Given another situation, like discovering that a friend won the lottery, the onlooker can now respond to pleasant mental states, like joy, through the process of positive empathy—vicariously experiencing others’ positive emotions.

While empathy may promote kindness and cooperation in interpersonal relationships, it does not necessarily lead to wide-spread prosocial behaviors. Many individuals may only feel empathy for those that they find attractive or similar to themselves. Plus, too much can also result in excessive guilt and self-destructive giving behavior.

Fortunately, a person can deliberately alter the level of empathy they respond with, depending on the particular situation and style of emotion-regulation.

For instance, they may choose to cultivate their emotional connections with others using perspective-taking tasks. That is, they take an extra step to understand the reason why a person thinks and behaves in the particular manner and explain their perspective.

Or, in the event that empathy might inflict personal harm, either directly or indirectly, they may choose to participate in compassion training, such as meditation techniques that promote loving kindness—feelings of benevolence towards all human beings.

Some researchers suggest that altruism operates on empathy. Empathy is the capacity to understand another person’s perspective, to feel what he or she feels. An empathetic person makes an emotional connection with others and feels compelled to help (Batson, 1991). Empathy can be expressed in several ways, including cognitive, affective, and motor.

Empathy is often confused with pity and sympathy, which are different reactions to the situation of someone else or others. Pity is simply an acknowledgement of suffering, while sympathy goes another step forward—it is a feeling of care and concern for someone. However, sympathy does not involve a shared perspective or shared emotions.

Research evidence supports that we clearly need empathy to promote kindness and cooperation (De Vignemont & Singer, 2006). However, a keen ability to respond to the mental states of observed others does not necessarily lead to prosocial behaviors. Devious individuals, such as psychopaths, may use these emotional abilities to trick their victims.

Development

Cognitive empathy, also known as theory-of-mind, begins to increase in adolescence and is an important component of social problem solving and conflict avoidance. According to one longitudinal study, levels of cognitive empathy begin rising in girls around 13 years old, and around 15 years old in boys (Van der Graaff et al., 2013). Teens who reported having supportive fathers with whom they could discuss their worries were found to be better able to take the perspective of others (Miklikowska, Duriez, & Soenens, 2011).

This text is adapted from OpenStax, Psychology. OpenStax CNX.

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