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EMPATHY DEFINED

 * What is Empathy?
 * Why Practice It?
 * How Do I Cultivate It?


WHAT IS EMPATHY?

The term “empathy” is used to describe a wide range of experiences. Emotion
researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people’s
emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be
thinking or feeling.

Contemporary researchers often differentiate between two types of empathy:
“Affective empathy” refers to the sensations and feelings we get in response to
others’ emotions; this can include mirroring what that person is feeling, or
just feeling stressed when we detect another’s fear or anxiety. “Cognitive
empathy,” sometimes called “perspective taking,” refers to our ability to
identify and understand other people’s emotions. Studies suggest that people
with autism spectrum disorders have a hard time empathizing.

Empathy seems to have deep roots in our brains and bodies, and in our
evolutionary history. Elementary forms of empathy have been observed in our
primate relatives, in dogs, and even in rats. Empathy has been associated with
two different pathways in the brain, and scientists have speculated that some
aspects of empathy can be traced to mirror neurons, cells in the brain that fire
when we observe someone else perform an action in much the same way that they
would fire if we performed that action ourselves. Research has also uncovered
evidence of a genetic basis to empathy, though studies suggest that people can
enhance (or restrict) their natural empathic abilities.

Having empathy doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll want to help someone in need,
though it’s often a vital first step toward compassionate action.

For more: Read Frans de Waal’s essay on “The Evolution of Empathy” and Daniel
Goleman’s overview of different forms of empathy, drawing on the work of Paul
Ekman.

WHAT ARE THE LIMITATIONS?

 * WHEN EMPATHY HURTS, COMPASSION CAN HEAL
   
   By Adam Hoffman
   
   A new neuroscientific study shows that compassion training can help us cope
   with other…

 * DOES EMPATHY REDUCE PREJUDICE—OR PROMOTE IT?
   
   By Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton
   
   Rodolfo Mendoza-Denton explains how to make sense of conflicting scientific
   evidence.

 * HOW TO AVOID THE EMPATHY TRAP
   
   By Robin Stern, Diana Divecha
   
   Do you prioritize other people's feelings over your own? You might be falling
   into the…


FEATURED ARTICLES


HOW TEARS HELP US OVERCOME BARRIERS TO EMPATHY

By Ashwini Murali | June 30, 2022

A new study reveals how tears shed by members of socially disadvantaged groups
can elicit empathy and support.


WHY SENSITIVITY IS A STRENGTH IN BOYS

By Elisse Gabriel | June 3, 2022

It’s time to shift the paradigm about sensitivity in boys and recognize how it
improves their relationships and supports their well-being.


NINE WAYS TO HELP STUDENTS DISCUSS GUNS AND VIOLENCE

By Laura Tavares | May 25, 2022

How can educators respond to mass shootings in schools?


TWO HOURS OF TRAINING CAN HELP TEACHERS REDUCE RACIAL BIAS

By Yasmin Anwar | May 13, 2022

A new study finds that a short empathy training for teachers can reduce
suspensions for students of color.


HOW WE’RE OVERCOMING THE STIGMA OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

By Stephen Hinshaw, Jeremy Adam Smith | April 27, 2022

Shame and shunning make mental illness worse. But new studies suggest that
attitudes are changing for the better—and that’s largely due…


HOW TO DEEPEN OUR COMPASSION FOR REFUGEES

By Elizabeth Svoboda | April 7, 2022

When we face large numbers of people in need, we almost instinctively pull back.
By questioning this reaction, we can make space for a more…


WHY PRACTICE IT?

Empathy is a building block of morality—for people to follow the Golden Rule, it
helps if they can put themselves in someone else’s shoes. It is also a key
ingredient of successful relationships because it helps us understand the
perspectives, needs, and intentions of others. Here are some of the ways that
research has testified to the far-reaching importance of empathy.

 * Seminal studies by Daniel Batson and Nancy Eisenberg have shown that people
   higher in empathy are more likely to help others in need, even when doing so
   cuts against their self-interest.
 * Empathy is contagious: When group norms encourage empathy, people are more
   likely to be empathic—and more altruistic.
 * Empathy reduces prejudice and racism: In one study, white participants made
   to empathize with an African American man demonstrated less racial bias
   afterward.
 * Empathy is good for your marriage: Research suggests being able to understand
   your partner’s emotions deepens intimacy and boosts relationship
   satisfaction; it’s also fundamental to resolving conflicts. (The GGSC’s
   Christine Carter has written about effective strategies for developing and
   expressing empathy in relationships.)
 * Empathy reduces bullying: Studies of Mary Gordon’s innovative Roots of
   Empathy program have found that it decreases bullying and aggression among
   kids, and makes them kinder and more inclusive toward their peers. An
   unrelated study found that bullies lack “affective empathy” but not cognitive
   empathy, suggesting that they know how their victims feel but lack the kind
   of empathy that would deter them from hurting others.
 * Empathy reduces suspensions: In one study, students of teachers who
   participated in an empathy training program were half as likely to be
   suspended, compared to students of teachers who didn’t participate.
 * Empathy promotes heroic acts: A seminal study by Samuel and Pearl Oliner
   found that people who rescued Jews during the Holocaust had been encouraged
   at a young age to take the perspectives of others.
 * Empathy fights inequality. As Robert Reich and Arlie Hochschild have argued,
   empathy encourages us to reach out and want to help people who are not in our
   social group, even those who belong to stigmatized groups, like the poor.
   Conversely, research suggests that inequality can reduce empathy: People show
   less empathy when they attain higher socioeconomic status.
 * Empathy is good for the office: Managers who demonstrate empathy have
   employees who are sick less often and report greater happiness.
 * Empathy is good for health care: A large-scale study found that doctors high
   in empathy have patients who enjoy better health; other research suggests
   training doctors to be more empathic improves patient satisfaction and the
   doctors’ own emotional well-being.
 * Empathy is good for police: Research suggests that empathy can help police
   officers increase their confidence in handling crises, diffuse crises with
   less physical force, and feel less distant from the people they’re dealing
   with.

For more: Learn about why we should teach empathy to preschoolers.






FEATURED ARTICLES


HOW TEARS HELP US OVERCOME BARRIERS TO EMPATHY

By Ashwini Murali | June 30, 2022

A new study reveals how tears shed by members of socially disadvantaged groups
can elicit empathy and support.


WHY SENSITIVITY IS A STRENGTH IN BOYS

By Elisse Gabriel | June 3, 2022

It’s time to shift the paradigm about sensitivity in boys and recognize how it
improves their relationships and supports their well-being.


NINE WAYS TO HELP STUDENTS DISCUSS GUNS AND VIOLENCE

By Laura Tavares | May 25, 2022

How can educators respond to mass shootings in schools?


TWO HOURS OF TRAINING CAN HELP TEACHERS REDUCE RACIAL BIAS

By Yasmin Anwar | May 13, 2022

A new study finds that a short empathy training for teachers can reduce
suspensions for students of color.


HOW WE’RE OVERCOMING THE STIGMA OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

By Stephen Hinshaw, Jeremy Adam Smith | April 27, 2022

Shame and shunning make mental illness worse. But new studies suggest that
attitudes are changing for the better—and that’s largely due…


HOW TO DEEPEN OUR COMPASSION FOR REFUGEES

By Elizabeth Svoboda | April 7, 2022

When we face large numbers of people in need, we almost instinctively pull back.
By questioning this reaction, we can make space for a more…


HOW DO I CULTIVATE IT?

Humans experience affective empathy from infancy, physically sensing their
caregivers’ emotions and often mirroring those emotions. Cognitive empathy
emerges later in development, around three to four years of age, roughly when
children start to develop an elementary “theory of mind”—that is, the
understanding that other people experience the world differently than they do.

From these early forms of empathy, research suggests we can develop more complex
forms that go a long way toward improving our relationships and the world around
us. Here are some specific, science-based activities for cultivating empathy
from our site Greater Good in Action:

 * Active listening: Express active interest in what the other person has to say
   and make him or her feel heard.
 * Shared identity: Think of a person who seems to be very different from you,
   and then list what you have in common.
 * Put a human face on suffering: When reading the news, look for profiles of
   specific individuals and try to imagine what their lives have been like.
 * Eliciting altruism: Create reminders of connectedness.

And here are some of the keys that researchers have identified for nurturing
empathy in ourselves and others:

 * Focus your attention outwards: Being mindfully aware of your surroundings,
   especially the behaviors and expressions of other people, is crucial for
   empathy. Indeed, research suggests practicing mindfulness helps us take the
   perspectives of other people yet not feel overwhelmed when we encounter their
   negative emotions.
 * Get out of your own head: Research shows we can increase our own level of
   empathy by actively imagining what someone else might be experiencing.
 * Don’t jump to conclusions about others: We feel less empathy when we assume
   that people suffering are somehow getting what they deserve.
 * Show empathic body language: Empathy is expressed not just by what we say,
   but by our facial expressions, posture, tone of voice, and eye contact (or
   lack thereof).
 * Meditate: Neuroscience research by Richard Davidson and his colleagues
   suggests that meditation—specifically loving-kindness meditation, which
   focuses attention on concern for others—might increase the capacity for
   empathy among short-term and long-term meditators alike (though especially
   among long-time meditators).
 * Explore imaginary worlds: Research by Keith Oatley and colleagues has found
   that people who read fiction are more attuned to others’ emotions and
   intentions.
 * Join the band: Recent studies have shown that playing music together boosts
   empathy in kids.
 * Play games: Neuroscience research suggests that when we compete against
   others, our brains are making a “mental model” of the other person’s thoughts
   and intentions.
 * Take lessons from babies: Mary Gordon’s Roots of Empathy program is designed
   to boost empathy by bringing babies into classrooms, stimulating children’s
   basic instincts to resonate with others’ emotions.
 * Combat inequality: Research has shown that attaining higher socioeconomic
   status diminishes empathy, perhaps because people of high SES have less of a
   need to connect with, rely on, or cooperate with others. As the gap widens
   between the haves and have-nots, we risk facing an empathy gap as well. This
   doesn’t mean money is evil, but if you have a lot of it, you might need to be
   more intentional about maintaining your own empathy toward others.
 * Pay attention to faces: Pioneering research by Paul Ekman has found we can
   improve our ability to identify other people’s emotions by systematically
   studying facial expressions. Take our Emotional Intelligence Quiz for a
   primer, or check out Ekman’s F.A.C.E. program for more rigorous training.
 * Believe that empathy can be learned: People who think their empathy levels
   are changeable put more effort into being empathic, listening to others, and
   helping, even when it’s challenging.

For more: The Ashoka Foundation’s Start Empathy initiative tracks educators’
best practices for teaching empathy. The initiative gave awards to 14 programs
judged to do the best job at educating for empathy. The nonprofit Playworks also
offers eight strategies for developing empathy in children.


WHAT ARE THE PITFALLS AND LIMITATIONS OF EMPATHY?

According to research, we’re more likely to help a single sufferer than a large
group of faceless victims, and we empathize more with in-group members than
out-group members. Does this reflect a defect in empathy itself? Some critics
believe so, while others argue that the real problem is how we suppress our own
empathy.

Empathy, after all, can be painful. An “empathy trap” occurs when we’re so
focused on feeling what others are feeling that we neglect our own emotions and
needs—and other people can take advantage of this. Doctors and caregivers are at
particular risk of feeling emotionally overwhelmed by empathy.

In other cases, empathy seems to be detrimental. Empathizing with out-groups can
make us more reluctant to engage with them, if we imagine that they’ll be
critical of us. Sociopaths could use cognitive empathy to help them exploit or
even torture people.

Even if we are well-intentioned, we tend to overestimate our empathic skills. We
may think we know the whole story about other people when we’re actually making
biased judgments—which can lead to misunderstandings and exacerbate prejudice.


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 * EMPATHY QUIZ
   
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    * IS EMPATHIC EMOTION A SOURCE OF ALTRUISTIC MOTIVATION?
      
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 * HOW TO KEEP YOUR EMPATHY SWITCHED ON
   
   Emiliana Simon-Thomas explains how empathy works in the brain and why we
   should resist the urge to turn away from suffering.

   


 * EPISODE 121: 36 QUESTIONS TO SPARK INTIMACY
   
   What if you could fall in love, or forge deep connections, in just 45
   minutes? Our guests, Kristen Meinzer and Jolenta Greenberg of By The Book
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 * KEYS TO WELL-BEING
   
    * Altruism
    * Awe
    * Bridging Differences
    * Compassion
    * Empathy
    * Diversity
    * Forgiveness
    * Gratitude
    * Happiness
    * Mindfulness
    * Purpose
    * Social Connection

   

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