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A definition of empathy
The German word for empathy is "Einfühlung" and was coined in the late 1800s. It means "feeling into."
Empathy is about understanding other people's feelings. Some think empathy means the ability to read fellow human beings or simply feeling connected to people. Others see it as a moral stance about showing concern for others.
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The identifiable victim effect
Psychologists point out that defining empathy as the act of stepping into someone's mind to experience their feeling can lead to some tricky moral dilemmas.
- We are moved to open our hearts (or wallet) when presented with a case such as a charity campaign where a sing...
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The difference between empathy and compassion
- Empathy is about stepping into someone's shoes.
- Compassion is a feeling of concern for another person's suffering, which moves the person to help.
To be compassionate, you don't have to share somebody's feelings. It's the idea of exte...
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Empathy's incapacitating emotional impact
While shared happiness is a very pleasant state, sharing someone's suffering, such as a loved one, can be very difficult.
Our brain activity in the regions associated with pain is partially mirrored. At worst, people feel "empathic distress," which leads to apathy, withdrawal, an...
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810 reads
Extending empathy to abstract strangers
We naturally have more empathy for people closer to us. Our empathy and affinity for others decline the further people are from us.
But our natural empathy for those closer and more similar to us can be used to provoke antipathy towards those who are not like us
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Misplaced empathy
In recent years, researchers have found that misplaced empathy can lead to exhaustion and apathy, and prevent you from helping the people who need you.
Worse, people's empathetic tendencies can be used to manipulate them into aggression and cruelty.
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More About Empathy
Coined in the 17th century, the word empathy initially began as a German word Einfûhlung, relating to how people derive pleasure from art and nature by finding similarities and injecting their own feelings in it.
Sympathy was a feel with
The difference between empathy and compassion
- Empathy is about stepping into someone's shoes.
- Compassion is a feeling of concern for another person's suffering, which moves the person to help.
To be compassionate, you don't have to share somebody's feelings. It's the idea of exte...
3. You struggle with empathy
Empathy is the ability to understand and share others' feelings, crucial for successful relationships. Individuals with high levels of empathy have better social interactions and lower risk of rejection.
Struggling to see things from others' perspective or respond ...
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