Audio/Article: How empathy came to be seen as a weakness in conservative circles

• March 22, 20258:05 AM ET

• Heard on NPR Weekend Edition Saturday

• Sarah McCammon

Defines empathy as

• People tend to think of empathy or caring about other people's feelings as a good thing, 

• ELON MUSK:  There's so much empathy that you actually suicide yourself. 

• Empathy is dangerous. Empathy is toxic. Empathy will align you with hell. 

• David French:  the head (logic)  and the heart (emotion). head has to overrule the heart sometimes.

• NOTES: unclear definitions.They do mention pain.. so one aspect is feeling others pain.

Practical Applications of the Wholistic Empathy Model

✅ Therapy & Counseling – Used in person-centered therapy, where therapists offer unconditional positive regard, genuineness, and deep empathy.

✅ Conflict Resolution & Mediation – Helps de-escalate tensions by validating emotions and creating mutual understanding.

✅ Leadership & Workplace Communication – Encourages empathetic listening in leadership, fostering trust, collaboration, and motivation in teams.

✅ Education & Parenting – Helps educators and parents connect with children’s experiences to support emotional development.

✅ Reduces conflicts by fostering open, non-defensive conversations.

✅ Increases emotional intimacy by making people feel truly heard.

✅ Builds trust by creating a safe space for vulnerability. 

Definitional  Problems

• • empathy has had a wide range of (sometimes conflicting) definitions among both researchers and laypeople. 

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Manus, what is the definition of empathy?

Understanding Empathy: A Comprehensive Guide to Definitions and Perspectives

Introduction

Empathy is a fundamental human capacity that shapes our social interactions, relationships, and moral development. It allows us to connect with others on a deeper level by understanding and sharing their emotional experiences. Despite its importance in human connection, empathy remains a complex concept with multiple definitions and interpretations across different fields of study.

This comprehensive guide explores the various definitions of empathy, its historical development, psychological dimensions, and practical applications. By examining empathy from multiple perspectives, we can gain a richer understanding of this essential human capacity and its role in our lives.

The Etymology and Historical Development of Empathy

The English word "empathy" has a relatively recent origin in psychological literature, though the concept it describes has been discussed in various forms throughout human history. The term was introduced to the English language in 1909 by psychologist Edward B. Titchener, who translated the German word "Einfühlung" (meaning "feeling into").

The German aesthetician Theodor Lipps had adapted "Einfühlung" from aesthetics to psychology in 1903. Originally, this term described the projection of human feelings onto objects of art or nature, allowing viewers to experience a sense of unity with what they observed.

The root of the word comes from Ancient Greek "ἐμπάθεια" (empatheia, meaning "physical affection or passion"), derived from "ἐν" (en, "in, at") and "πάθος" (pathos, "passion" or "suffering"). Interestingly, in modern Greek, "εμπάθεια" can have negative connotations such as prejudice, malevolence, or hatred, highlighting how concepts evolve across languages and cultures.

When first introduced, empathy was not primarily about feeling another person's emotions as we commonly understand it today. Instead, early conceptions focused on projecting one's own feelings onto external objects or the world. The shift toward understanding empathy as the ability to comprehend and share others' emotional states developed gradually through psychological research and theory.

Dictionary and Linguistic Definitions

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Merriam-Webster offers two primary definitions of empathy:

1. "The action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another."

2. "The act of imagining one's ideas, feelings, or attitudes as fully inhabiting something observed (such as a work of art or natural occurrence): the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it."

These definitions capture both the interpersonal dimension of empathy (understanding others) and its aesthetic dimension (projecting feelings onto objects).

Dictionary.com

Dictionary.com defines empathy as:

1. "The psychological identification with or vicarious experiencing of the emotions, thoughts, or attitudes of another."

2. "The imaginative ascribing to an object, as a natural object or work of art, feelings or attitudes present in oneself."

The site emphasizes that empathy involves feeling or attempting to feel and understand exactly what it's like to be "in someone else's shoes," distinguishing it from merely feeling sorry for someone.

Cambridge English Dictionary

The Cambridge English Dictionary offers a concise definition:

"The ability to share someone else's feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person's situation."

This definition highlights the imaginative aspect of empathy—mentally placing oneself in another's position to understand their perspective and emotional state.

Psychological Perspectives on Empathy

General Psychological Definition

In psychology, empathy is broadly understood as the cognitive and emotional reactions of an individual to the observed experiences of another. It enables us to form bonds with other people and increases the likelihood of helping behaviors and compassion.

Types of Empathy

Psychological research has identified several distinct types of empathy:

1. Affective/Emotional Empathy

Affective empathy refers to the ability to respond with an appropriate emotion to another's mental states. It involves being affected by another's emotional state through a process called emotional contagion. Components include:

• Feeling the same emotion as another person

• Personal distress: experiencing distress in response to perceiving another's plight

• Empathic concern: feeling compassion and sympathy for others in response to their suffering

2. Cognitive Empathy

Cognitive empathy involves understanding another person's mental state or perspective without necessarily sharing their emotions. Also known as empathic accuracy, it requires "having complete and accurate knowledge about the contents of another person's mind, including how the person feels." This type of empathy is more like a skill that humans develop to recognize and understand others' emotional states.

Related concepts include social cognition, perspective-taking, theory of mind, and mentalizing.

3. Somatic Empathy

Somatic empathy involves having physical reactions in response to what someone else is experiencing. For example, when you see someone feeling embarrassed, you might start to blush or have an upset stomach yourself. This bodily response represents a direct, physiological form of empathy.

4. Spiritual Empathy

Though less clearly defined in the literature, spiritual empathy is sometimes referenced as a deeper form of connection that transcends ordinary understanding and may involve a sense of shared humanity or universal consciousness.

Developmental Models of Empathy

Several models explain how empathy develops:

Hoffman's Four Developmental Stages

1. Global empathy or 'emotion contagion': where one person's emotion automatically evokes the same emotional reaction in another

2. Attention to others' feelings: where the observer is aware of another person's feelings but doesn't mirror them

3. Prosocial actions: where the observer behaves in a way to comfort the other person

4. Empathy for another's life condition: where the observer feels empathy toward someone's broader life situation

Fletcher-Watson and Bird's Four-Step Process

According to this model, empathy results from a four-step process:

1. Noticing/observing someone's emotional state

2. Correctly interpreting that emotional state

3. 'Feeling' the same emotion

4. Responding to the emotion

If any of these steps fail, true empathy is not achieved.

Decety and Cowell's Multiple Processes

This model posits that empathy arises from multiple interacting processes:

• Emotional: The ability to share someone else's feelings

• Motivational: The need to respond to someone else's feelings

• Cognitive: The ability to take someone else's viewpoint

Measurement of Empathy

The Empathy Quotient (EQ) is a standardized measurement of empathy, similar to how IQ measures intelligence. Higher scores represent greater empathic abilities. Research has established a score of 30 as a critical threshold, with scores below this level often associated with conditions like Asperger syndrome that involve difficulties with social interaction.

Distinctions from Related Concepts

Understanding empathy requires distinguishing it from several related but distinct concepts:

Empathy vs. Sympathy

While these terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they represent different emotional responses:

• Empathy involves understanding another person's experience by imagining oneself in their situation, maintaining a distinction between self and other while sharing in their emotional experience.

• Sympathy involves being moved by or responding in tune with another person's situation without necessarily experiencing their emotions. It's more about feeling concern or pity for someone rather than sharing their emotional state.

Empathy vs. Compassion

• Empathy refers to the active sharing in the emotional experience of another person.

• Compassion builds on empathy by adding a desire to alleviate the person's distress. While empathy involves understanding and feeling with someone, compassion motivates action to help them.

Empathy vs. Emotional Intelligence

• Empathy focuses on the ability to share and understand someone else's emotions and perspectives.

• Emotional Intelligence is broader, encompassing the ability to understand, interpret, and manage both other people's emotions and your own. Self-awareness and self-regulation are key components of emotional intelligence that extend beyond empathy.

Other Related Concepts

• Pity: Feeling sorry for someone who might be in trouble or need help, often with a sense of superiority

• Emotional contagion: Automatically "catching" the emotions that others are showing without necessarily recognizing this is happening

• Alexithymia: A deficiency in understanding, processing, or describing one's own emotions (unlike empathy which is about someone else's emotions)

Theories on How Empathy Works

Two major theories attempt to explain the psychological mechanisms behind empathy:

Simulation Theory

Simulation Theory proposes that empathy occurs because when we see another person experiencing an emotion, we internally 'simulate' or represent that same emotion in ourselves. This gives us firsthand knowledge of what the other person feels.

This theory is supported by neuroscientific evidence of "mirror neurons" that fire both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else performing the same action. Parts of the brain in the medial prefrontal cortex show overlapping activation for both self-focused and other-focused thoughts and judgments.

Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind suggests that humans understand others' mental states by developing theories about how people think and feel based on rules for how one should think or feel in various situations. This theory emphasizes cognitive processes rather than emotional mirroring.

Most researchers now believe that empathy likely involves multiple processes that incorporate both automatic, emotional responses and learned conceptual reasoning, with different contexts triggering different empathetic responses.

Benefits and Functions of Empathy

Empathy serves numerous important functions in human life:

1. 1. 1. Strengthens relationships by building social connections and trust

      2. Helps regulate emotions by providing context and perspective

      3. Promotes helping behaviors and prosocial actions

      4. Reduces conflict in relationships through better understanding

      5. Increases capacity for forgiveness

      6. Forms bonds with other people across diverse backgrounds

      7. Enables understanding of jokes and sarcasm and other complex social communications

      8. Facilitates social functioning, with highly empathic people reporting larger social circles and more satisfying relationships

Potential Downsides of Empathy

Despite its many benefits, empathy can have drawbacks:

1. Empathy fatigue/compassion fatigue: Emotional and physical exhaustion from repeatedly being exposed to others' suffering

2. Emotional exhaustion when empathy is overused without proper self-care

3. Impaired judgment when strong empathic responses override rational decision-making

4. Emotional negativity if not balanced with appropriate boundaries

Clinical and Practical Applications

In Mental Health

Empathy plays a crucial role in mental health. Those with high levels of empathy typically function well in society, while lack of empathy is associated with conditions like antisocial personality disorder and narcissistic personality disorder.

In Therapy

For mental health professionals, empathy is an essential therapeutic tool. Therapists who are highly empathetic can help clients process past experiences and gain greater understanding of both their experiences and associated feelings. The therapeutic relationship itself, built on empathic understanding, can be healing.

In Healthcare

Healthcare providers who demonstrate empathy tend to have better patient outcomes and satisfaction. However, healthcare workers must balance empathy with appropriate boundaries to prevent compassion fatigue.

Factors Influencing Empathy

Individual Differences

• Gender: Research suggests women tend to score higher on empathy tests and may experience more cognitive empathy than men, though these findings are somewhat mixed

• Genetics and environment: Both play important roles in shaping empathic abilities

• Stability across lifespan: People tend to maintain similar levels of empathy throughout their lives, with no significant age-related decline

Situational Factors

Several factors influence when and how we experience empathy:

• How we perceive the other person (as similar or different from ourselves)

• How we attribute the other individual's behaviors (as within or beyond their control)

• What we blame for the other person's predicament

• Our past experiences and expectations

Cultivation of Empathy

Empathy appears to have both evolutionary and developmental roots. Elementary forms have been observed in primates and other mammals, suggesting an evolutionary advantage. In humans, empathy begins to emerge during the second and third years of life.

While we have a natural predisposition to develop empathy, social and cultural factors strongly influence its expression. Empathy develops over time through social interactions and can be enhanced through various practices:

1. Active listening without judgment or interruption

2. Perspective-taking exercises that encourage imagining others' experiences

3. Exposure to diverse people and stories that broaden understanding

4. Mindfulness practices that increase awareness of emotions

5. Service activities that connect people with others' needs

Research supports that empathy can be improved through intentional practice and appropriate interventions.

Conclusion

Empathy is a multifaceted capacity that encompasses emotional sharing, cognitive understanding, and motivational components. It allows us to connect with others in meaningful ways and forms the foundation for compassionate action and moral behavior.

By understanding the various definitions and dimensions of empathy, we can better appreciate its role in human experience and work to cultivate this essential capacity in ourselves and others. Whether viewed through the lens of psychology, philosophy, or everyday human interaction, empathy remains one of our most valuable tools for building a more connected and caring world.

References

This comprehensive guide draws on definitions and research from multiple authoritative sources, including:

• Merriam-Webster Dictionary

• Dictionary.com

• Cambridge English Dictionary

• Wikipedia

• Verywell Mind

• Lesley University (Psychology of Emotional and Cognitive Empathy)

• Positive Psychology

• Various psychological research studies cited within these sources

Each source contributes unique perspectives on empathy, helping to create a more complete understanding of this complex human capacity.