Empathy at Work

Chapter 1. What Is Empathy?

Empathy (noun) em•pa•thy

 the ability to understand or share the feelings of another person.

Psychologists and counselors agree that a person requires three specific skills to have true empathy: “the ability to share another person’s feelings; the cognitive ability to perceive what another person is feeling; and a ‘socially beneficial’ intention to respond compassionately to that person’s distress.”¹ There have been many studies conducted on why empathy is so beneficial to the human experience. The overarching conclusion by researchers is that empathy promotes moral reasoning, motivates prosocial behavior, and inhibits aggression toward others.²

To better understand what empathy is, we first must understand the different types of empathy and how we experience each of those types when we are in different situations. There are three types of empathy: emotional empathy, cognitive empathy, and empathetic concern. Each of these plays a vital role in the way in which we interact with others.

Emotional Empathy

Emotional empathy, which is also called affective empathy or primitive empathy, is empathy that we have inherently. Emotional empathy is very closely connected to something called emotional contagion: having one person’s emotions or behavior mimicked in another person’s emotions or behaviors. It is seeing another person smiling and then beginning to smile yourself; seeing someone frowning and feeling a bit sad; or hearing someone speak angrily with ...