What Is Empathy?

760 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effective and appropriate communication

Empathy, the willingness and ability to step into someone else’s shoes and acknowledge their view, while also being aware of their feelings and understanding their needs (Lyons, 2015). Having sympathy means caring for another’s situation or emotion, but doing nothing to help. Showing compassion for another means having or sharing in their emotions, while trying to assist in bringing about a solution.

The fact, Alyssa’s husband, has passed away and her deep emotions over the situation is something countless people have gone through. Personally, I have not lost someone this close to me and so I would show Alyssa sympathy for her loss. “A quick condolence is an honorable and courteous act. It is genuine support from an indirect contact that share bereavement and sympathy for the loss of a loved one” (Quick Condolence). I would say “I would like to share my deepest condolences for you and your family”. By, offering Alyssa sympathy I have shown her I care about her …show more content…

Recently, myself, been through the same situation, but found a job quickly. He wants my advice about the situation, and I will offer him compassion and empathy, as I have been in his shoes and understand his feelings about the situation, in turn, I can offer advice on what worked for me. Understanding his situation and emotions provides me with insight on how his emotions can be affecting his ability to find work. “Compassion, however, is a renewable resource. When you are able to feel empathy, but then extend a hand to alleviate someone’s pain, you are less likely to burn out “(Schairer). Using both empathy, feeling their emotion, and compassion, wanting to help alleviate the emotion, I can help Brandon. Offering him the time, ability to express himself, and the understanding, is being empathetic. On the other hand, offering advice, techniques, helping with resume and resources in showing compassion for his

Show More
Related

  • Argument Against Empathy

    125 Words  | 1 Pages

    In the article “The Baby in the Well: The Case Against Empathy,” Paul Bloom puts forward a tendentious thesis. Empathy, according to him, is overrated. The imaginative capacity to put oneself in the place of an oppressed, afflicted, or bereaved person does not lead to rational, thoroughly-considered solutions to important problems. Indeed, it can lead to hysterical displays of ill-directed charity, the misallocation of resources, and total blindness to other significant issues. Bloom appeals to his readers’ sense of logic by using examples of environmental and geopolitical crises that require forward-thinking solutions; he suggests that, because of the need to think about the future and the big picture, a politics of empathy cannot be relied

    Read More

  • Examples Of Empathy In Fahrenheit 451

    1029 Words  | 3 Pages

    Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. Compassion and empathy inspire change in a society whether it be changing individual’s usual way of thinking, uniting, or accepting those who are different. Individuals can use their compassion for something to cause a change in someone else’s thought of that thing. Several people have used empathy to bring others feelings together. People can also use empathy to show others to have acceptance towards ones who may not be like themselves.

    Read More

  • Racial Empathy

    976 Words  | 2 Pages

    To be able to understand how empathy works between a certain group of people, it is necessary to know what empathy means. I found an interesting definition of empathy, as a crucial component of the helping relationship, a need to understand people ' distress, and to provide supportive interpersonal communication. Empathy is the ability to recognize the emotions of others. Empathy does not mean that we live other people’ emotions, but it means that we understand other people ' emotions from our experiences. Empathy does not mean to cancel your personality, but to understand how people perceive the reality. It is the ability to read information coming through nonverbal channels. In this

    Read More

  • Difference Between Empathy And Sympathy In Alice Walker's Everyday Use

    824 Words  | 2 Pages

    ​Burton defines empathy as the ability to not only recognize but also to share another person’s or a fictional character’s or a sentient beings’ emotions. It involves seeing a person’s situation from his or her own perspective and then sharing his or her emotions and distress (1). Chismar posits that to empathize is basically to respond to another person’ perceived state of emotion by experiencing similar feelings. Empathy, therefore, implies sharing another person’s feeling without necessary showing any affection or desire to help. For one to empathize, he or she must at least care for, be interested in or concerned about

    Read More

  • Empathy In Fahrenheit 451

    1052 Words  | 3 Pages

    Empathy is used to create change in the world by reaching out to the emotions of people and attending to them. It is used to help others learn and decide on matters that would not be reasonable without feelings attached to them. Empathy helps bring together communities that would have long ago drifted apart, but instead welcomed all who were different. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another. This attribute of human-beings really allows us to not only attend to situations as if they were our own, but it allows us to feel most of what others feel because humans are very much alike in some ways. In many of the articles and novels that we have read this quarter, characters from different pieces of context have portrayed empathy whether it was toward

    Read More

  • The Reflection Of Empathy, By Stephen Dunn

    755 Words  | 2 Pages

    Empathy is imperative to teach kids from a young age in order to help them recognize mental states, such as thoughts and emotions, in themselves and others. Vital lessons, such as walking in another’s shoes or looking at a situation in their perspective, apprehends the significance of the feelings of another. Our point of view must continuously be altered, recognizing the emotions and background of the individual. We must not focus all of our attention on our self-interest. In the excerpt, Empathy, written by Stephen Dunn, we analyze the process of determining the sentiment of someone.

    Read More

  • Theories Of Empathy

    1273 Words  | 3 Pages

    The development of the human race has been a spectacular one. According to modern theories, the development of man took billions of years and only happened because of a very specific set of variables and conditions. What marks one of the many extraordinary qualities in the human species is the ability to self-aware and cognizant. This self-awareness has many implications, one being the ability to empathize. This empathy can be for oneself or for others’ depending on the relationship to the recipient. In “A neurobehavioral evolutionary perspective on the mechanisms

    Read More

  • Necession In Jasmine Syedullah's The Abolition Of Whiteness

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    What is compassion? It has two components. One component of compassion means to put yourself in another person’s shoes, and ask yourself, What if I were that person? How would I feel? So, compassion means to develop an awareness of the suffering in another person. Another component of compassion is self-compassion, having compassion doesn’t always have to be putting everyone else before you, sometimes compassion can mean putting yourself first. Throughout generations, compassion has played an important role in many people, it’s a natural instinct within all of us. We show compassion towards our loved ones, when confronted with someone in pain, we

    Read More

  • Empathy In Nursing Practice

    703 Words  | 2 Pages

    I had been assigned to a 96 year old patient with a diagnosis of failure to cope. Prior to entering the patient’s room I had made a mental assessment through my personal research and verbal report that he was known to be a non-compliant agitated patient. Although the patient was already labeled as a difficult patient I did not allow this to cloud my own personal judgment when meeting with the patient. While providing morning care I began to engage with the patient through conversation and shortly learned that the patient was still grieving the loss of his wife from 9 years ago, they had been married for 65 years. By showing empathy and listening to the patient explain his story I was able to develop a therapeutic relationship with the patient where trust was built and nursing care was provided efficiently. I wanted to further explore the impact empathy has on nursing care in such setting as acute care, and how vital this is to the human

    Read More

  • Empathy In Nursing

    1159 Words  | 3 Pages

    According to the College of Nurse of Ontario (2006), empathy is one of the five key components of the nurse-client relationship and is one of the most powerful tools. You don’t need to know how your patient feels to be empathetic but letting them know that you are trying to understand is a good start. It can be used to describe a variety of experiences and had been defined by emotional researchers “as the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling” (University of California, Berkeley). Having the ability to empathize doesn’t mean you will or that you are willing to help someone in need but it is an important first step towards a compassionate

    Read More

  • The Humanity Of Compassion In Mary Shelley's Frankenstein

    1215 Words  | 3 Pages

    For instance, if one person is despondent other will do anything to make ones pleased. Everyone deserves compassion, and that no one should be the judge to whether the other person actually deserve it or not, but in general, some individual do not always feel the need to extend their compassion to others, in most cases because they do not think the others deserve it, or it’s because some people do not feel as though they are able to afford to help in any way possible. For example, there are people who naturally have sympathy to one another, but in some cases some people just have sympathy for interest. Some people help the needed one for interest to show the world their good actions, but in reality they are people who are just showing their compassion for interest or benefit. Compassion is someone who is willing to help the needless, who is always there for them in the hard times. “However, compassion is defined as the emotional response when perceiving suffering and involves an authentic desire to help alleviate that suffering” (Seppala). The compassion of a human is portrayed through actions, emotions, and most importantly love

    Read More

  • Social Empathy

    963 Words  | 2 Pages

    Social media has changed the way people communicate with each other and in turn, has affected our ability to empathize in both negative and positive ways. One of the most harmful consequences is the rise of cyber-bullying. Another negative issue has been the trend of trolling in comments sections of websites, chat rooms, and other online venues of communication. In spite of this, there have been constructive consequences due to social media such as the ability for family and friends to keep in touch on a regular basis. Because of social media, many people are finding support and resources to help them when they fall on hard times or experience tragedies like death and illness. Overall, social media is an exciting new world that changes as it grows and it will be up to society to utilize it for good.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Empathy

    1633 Words  | 4 Pages

    Empathy is the ‘capacity’ to share and understand another person’s ‘state of mind’ or their emotion. It is an experience of the outlook on emotions of another person being within themselves (Ioannides & Konstantikaki, 2008). There are two different types of empathy: affective empathy and cognitive empathy. Affective empathy is the capacity in which a person can respond to another person’s emotional state using the right type of emotion. On the other hand, cognitive empathy is a person’s capacity to understand what someone else is feeling. (Rogers, Dziobek, Hassenstab, Wolf & Convit, 2006). This essay will look at explaining how biology and individual differences help us to understand empathy as a complex, multi-dimensional trait.

    Read More

  • Empathy And Personal Characteristics: The Definition Of Personality

    1209 Words  | 3 Pages

    The definition of personality deals with certain pattens of behavior, thoughts, and feelings. These patterns of behavior, thoughts, and feelings stem from combinations of various traits. In order to understand a full personality, then each trait must be examined. One trait that can be examined further is empathy. It is important to know what empathy is, it’s origins, dynamics, correlates, manifestations, advantages, and disadvantages, in order to examine its development, and apply it to my own life. The answers to these questions also allows a deeper study of one personality trait that contributes to a full personality. Knowing the individual traits of a person allows the whole personality o be better evaluated.

    Read More

  • Self Reflection and Personality Traits

    1187 Words  | 3 Pages

    Empathy also assists me to be helpful to my workmates. If I put their feelings at heart, I will manage to assist them when need be. They could have problems not only at the work place but also in their social life. This may be a hindrance to their productivity at work. In this case I can step in on their behalf. By being helpful to my patien...

    Read More

More about What Is Empathy?

Open Document