Empathy

Empathy

Question # 1 What is empathy?

Empathy derives from maternal care.

Frans de Waal

http://youtu.be/UONxT4Tb3C0

Empathy is the ability to step into the shoes of another person, aiming to understand their feelings and perspectives, and to use that understanding to guide our actions.

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_habits_of_highly_empathic_people1

Empathy is  feeling with another person.  the ability to read and understand an other person’s emotions, needs, and thoughts. https://hbr.org/2016/11/if-you-cant-empathize-with-your-employees-youd-better-learn-to https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-empathy-most-important-trait-today-ari-kopoulos http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-you-should-have-more-empathy-1462210724 https://youtu.be/1Evwgu369Jw

The core of empathy is curiosity.

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year-of-living-better/how-to-be-more-empathetic

The social psychologist C. Daniel Batson, who has researched empathy for decades, argues that the term can now refer to 8 different concepts: 1. Knowing another person’s thoughts and feelings.

2. Imagining another person’s thoughts and feelings.

3. Adopting the posture of another person.

4. Feeling as another person feels.

5. Imagining how you would feel or think in another person’s place.

6. Feeling distress at another person’s suffering.

7. Feeling for another person’s suffering.

8. Projecting oneself into another person’s situation. https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/a-short-history-of-empathy/409912/

The purpose of empathy is to want people to feel comfortable and be open with you.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/wander-woman/201704/can-you-have-too-much-empathy

Question # 2 Why is important important?

When you empathize with others, you are more likely to help them.

http://bostonreview.net/forum/paul-bloom-against-empathy https://theconversation.com/understanding-others-feelings-what-is-empathy-and-why-do-we-need-it-68494

Empathy improves employee performance, engagement, and profitability.

https://hbr.org/2016/01/help-your-team-manage-stress-anxiety-and-burnout

Question # 3 Do people feel more empathy for some people?

People feel more empathy for people, who are part of a group they belong to.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/program/archives/200910236 https://theconversation.com/understanding-others-feelings-what-is-empathy-and-why-do-we-need-it-68494

We care more about one person than about the mass, so long as we

have personal information about that person.

Empathy connects us to particular individuals but is insensitive to numerical differences and statistical data. As Mother Teresa put it, “If I look at the mass I will never act. If I look at the one, I will.�

http://bostonreview.net/forum/paul-bloom-against-empathy

We are more prone to feel empathy for those who  look like us,  are familiar.  have the same national background as we have,  are attractive, and  are non-threatening.

http://bostonreview.net/forum/paul-bloom-against-empathy https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/12/29/does-empathy-guide-or-hinder-moral-action

3 psychological factors influence our decisions about who we help: 1. Closeness to the victim – including, for example, physical nearness, your social groups and people with whom you share similarities.

2. Stories are vivid, i.e. they produce powerful feelings or strong, clear images in the mind.

3. Your faith in your ability to single-handedly and completely help the victims of a tragedy. http://www.mmcgrath.co.uk/?p=2312 https://www.google.ch/search?q=vivid https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7815744-the-upside-of-irrationality 3149-3168

Question # 4 How do people develop empathy?

Reading is one of the best ways to open your mind to the experiences of others. Choose novels with narrators who have lives and backgrounds unlike yours, or who live in a different place or time.

https://www.nytimes.com/guides/year-of-living-better/how-to-be-more-empathetic

Focus your attention on the other person when he or she is talking. Don’t check your phone or gaze out the window.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/mindful-anger/201809/learn-empathy-in-just-5-steps

When someone has fallen into an emotional well, he or she does not want you to climb down into the well with him or her (emotional empathy).

The person would much rather that you see and understand

the problem he or she is experiencing (cognitive empathy) and throw down a rope (compassionate empathy). https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/going-beyond-intelligence/201910/empathy-where-kindness-compassion-and-happiness-begin

Developing empathy requires self-awareness.

https://hbr.org/2016/11/if-you-cant-empathize-with-your-employees-youd-better-learn-to

Listening is not enough to build an empathic bond with another person. Besides listening, you need to open yourself up and share your thoughts, your feelings and your experiences with the other person. You need to make yourself vulnerable.

https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/six_habits_of_highly_empathic_people1