empathy

values

2022

We explain what empathy is, why it is considered a value and how to develop it. Also, examples of this ability, and its relationship to sympathy and assertiveness.

Empathy is the ability of an individual to connect emotionally with others.

What is empathy?

Empathy is the ability of the human being to connect emotionally with other individuals, being able to perceive, recognize, share and understand suffering, happiness waves emotions of the other.

It is a highly valued characteristic in human behavior, often considered a value, which is linked to the ability to put oneself in the place of the other and connect with their needs and understand their actions. Empathy is part of what is known as emotional intelligence and is linked to other values ​​such as compassion and altruism, and is opposed to selfishness and antipathy.

Empathy is an immediate and unconscious reaction, which does not pass through reason and intellect, and which leads one person to participate affectively in the situation of another, which is why empathy is spoken of as an innate quality of the human being. However, empathy can be more or less developed in a person and work can be done to put it in function of social ties and turn it into habit.

Empathy involves the development of abilities and values ​​such as attentive listening, understanding, solidarity and the tolerance, and generates healthy ties and respectful relationships that contribute to social harmony.

Types of empathy

It is usual to classify empathy into three categories:

  • Affective or emotional empathy. It is based on the ability of an individual to become infected with the emotions that another person feels and to be able to understand and feel them as their own.
  • Cognitive empathy. It is based on the ability of the intellect of a person to understand the posture of another, that is, to "put itself in their shoes", but without involving the emotional aspect.
  • Compassionate empathy. It is based on the ability of an individual to empathize with another and show a predisposition for help. This type of empathy is what takes action.

Empathy as a value

The use of the term empathy in the various philosophical or psychological doctrines is recent (dates from the 20th century) and arises as a consequence of a greater scientific understanding of the mental dimensions of the human being. Empathy, however, is linked to the more traditional notions of compassion and generosity, who have a very old religious and cultural background.

Empathy is considered a value because it is perceived as a positive quality or characteristic that allows a person to understand reactions, attitudes or feelings of another, and is related to compassion, I respect, the goodness, solidarity, tolerance and union between subjects.

It is a value that allows the individual to identify with the rest of the people and to be able to connect with their peers in a friendly, understanding way and respecting their rights. It is a quality that is instilled from early childhood and that, in turn, can be a trait of the personality more or less marked and can be worked on.

Empathy is a fundamental value within social relationships because it allows the consolidation of harmonious environments and societies and it is an attitude that individuals are expected to have in all areas, such as family, school, work and the public highway. For its part, the lack of empathy leads to attitudes that include lack of understanding, intolerance, inequality and individualism.

How to develop empathy?

Empathy is an innate quality of the human being, however, there may be individuals with a more developed empathy and it is also a capacity that can be worked on.

Some characteristics of an empathic person are:

  • Offer attentive listening to others.
  • Offer advice only if the other individual requests it.
  • Tolerates diversity of opinions and points of view.
  • Seeks to understand the actions of others.
  • Shows a developed emotional intelligence that allows you to know and recognize different emotions.
  • Understand the communication broadly, both in written and spoken form as well as gestural and body, which allows you to identify emotions or situations.
  • Shows genuine and disinterested interest in other people.
  • She is receptive and attentive to achieve deep communication with other individuals.
  • Avoid judgments and stereotypes.
  • Put aside personal considerations, opinions and conclusions about the emotions of others.

Examples of empathy

Some everyday examples of empathy are:

  • She understood the feeling of sadness that crossed the character main of the film.
  • I felt pity and pain at the situation of injustice that affected the workers.
  • The mother was delighted by her daughter's academic achievements.
  • She offered help to restore the damage to the church caused by the storm.
  • A student defended his friend in a bullying situation.
  • He was silent and respected other points of view during the conversation.
  • She was saddened by the loss her friend is going through.
  • I will make myself available to my partner to resolve his employment situation.
  • The pedestrian helped a person with reduced vision cross the street.
  • She offers advice to her boyfriend, when asked.

Empathy and assertiveness

Empathy and assertiveness are two terms in common use in contemporary psychology that are linked and have different meanings.

On the one hand, empathy is the ability of an individual to connect with the emotions or situations that another subject is going through. On the other hand, assertiveness is the ability of an individual to tell another what they think or feel in a frank, honest, but delicate way, without hurting their feelings and, above all, perceiving what is the best way to do it.

Assertiveness is a communicative value, since assertive people achieve in their recipients a better disposition to understanding and acceptance. It requires a significant dose of empathy on the part of the issuer, in order to perceive which is the best way to communicate their ideas or opinions, which could be painful or annoying for the issuer.

Empathy and sympathy

In many cases, the term empathy is often confused with sympathy. However, these two words are not synonymous, but refer to different qualities.

While empathy is the ability of a person to perceive the feelings and emotions of others and seeks understanding, sympathy is the affective inclination that one person feels towards another, but does not necessarily include identification with the feelings of others.

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