Question

Explain the following concept.

Empathy

Answer 1

Empathy is the capacity to understand and feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Empathy is widely regarded as the key to successful relationships.

Its components are as follows:

1. Cognitive Empathy: It means knowing how the other person feels and what they might be thinking. It is sometimes called perspective-taking.
2. Emotional Reactivity: It means directly feeling the emotions that another person is feeling. It’s a deep-seated, gut reaction that often feels like a visceral human response.
3. Social Skills: It involves the other two components too as feeling the emotion becomes the driving force behind the action and understanding gives it the right direction.

There are some methods which can help us to promote the empathy.

1. Increase Social Interactions: Simple method is to have a person interact more frequently with people who need help.
2. Connecting Through Similarities: point out similarities with another person e.g same type of work, having same type of problem or goals, growing up in the same part of country, etc.
3. Ask Yourself What You Are Feeling: The first step towards understanding others is understanding yourself.
4. Challenge Yourself: When you struggle to achieve something, you become more humble leading to empathy.
5. Cultivate Your Sense of Curiosity: Try replacing the habit of judging by the new habit of curiosity.
6. Widen Your Circle: Empathy, especially for strangers, starts with exposure to people who are different than us.