Empathy is the emotional ability to put yourself in another person's shoes, trying to feel what they feel, in order to try to understand them. It is, therefore, the identification of one subject with another. Expression of Greek origin (empatheia = in + pathos [passion]), empathy, according to psychologists Paul Ekman and Daniel Goleman, would be divided into three species:
- Emotional
- cognitive
- compassionate
Empathy: practical examples
Based on the classification proposed by Ekman and Goleman, let us now see some examples of empathic behaviors:
Examples 1 and 2
1. A young woman is watching a movie that features a scene in which a character suffers racism. Even without ever having suffered racism, the young woman sympathizes with the character's suffering, creating an affective bond with her.
2. A bus driver feels deeply uncomfortable when he realizes that an elderly woman was standing, as none of the seated passengers, all younger than the lady, offered her a seat.
In examples 1 and 2 we have proofs of
emotional empathy or affective: the one in which you create an emotional connection with another person, to the point of sharing your feelings.Examples 3 and 4
3. Two gentlemen had a heated argument. At one point in the discussion, one of you says to the other, "Although I don't agree with you, I understand and respect your point of view." By putting himself in the other's shoes, trying to assimilate his opponent's perspective, this gentleman ended the discussion respectfully.
4. A lawyer must defend the right of an indigenous people to return to a territory from which they were expelled more than a hundred years ago. Initially, the lawyer cannot find a way to legally justify the right of these people to return to the place. Only after talking to the leaders of this group he can understand that this was a place of worship of his ancestors and that it has great symbolic importance for that people. So, after understanding the importance of this for the indigenous people, he is able to put himself in their place and write a thesis defending their rights.
It can be seen in examples 3 and 4 examples of cognitive empathy: one in which the subject seeks the perspective of the other, in order to understand their acts, thoughts and feelings.
Example 5 and 6
5. On the plane, a lady notices the tribulation that a girl sitting next to her was going through, traveling alone with a baby in her arms. The lady offers help to the girl, who, sighing in relief, accepts and thanks the lady, as she needed to go to the bathroom and had no one to leave the baby with.
6. A boy was bullied daily at school. One day, a colleague, outraged by that situation, decides to defend the boy, denouncing the aggressors to the school administration.
In these examples, the compassionate empathy: the one that goes beyond the field of subjectivity, reaching the practice. In it, the subject perceives the needs of the other and seeks to help him.
Empathy in everyday life
Empathy is usually associated with exceptional situations, such as in tragedies or when people are victims of extreme violence.
However, as can be seen in the examples cited, it can also manifest itself in common day-to-day situations: among friends, in the family environment, at work and even with strangers.
Empathy is an emotional competence that can be practiced in any circumstance, at any time. Just be attentive to the needs of the other.
See too:
- Empathy
- Sympathy
- otherness
- Altruism
