The ability to understand how someone feels is

empathy

The ability to understand how someone feels because you can imagine what it is like to be them.

Empathy refers to the ability of a person to understand and share the feelings or emotional states of another person. This can be achieved through adopting another person’s vantage point or frame of reference on a specific situation, to position oneself in the situation of another. There is a wide spectrum of different definitions of empathy, including emotional empathy and cognitive empathy, and many varying empathetic techniques.

13th June is Empathy Day, a campaign started by EmpathyLab in the United Kingdom to use stories as vehicles for promoting empathetic responses and encouraging more caring and peaceful behaviour. EmpathyLab takes its idea from the capacity of vicarious experiences which are instilled during the process of reading stories and embedding oneself in another’s mindset or situation in order to proliferate the energy it takes to understand another person’s situation, thereby increasing a sense of kinship or altruism. One famous literary evocation of empathy is from Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, whereby Atticus Finch states:

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… until you climb into his skin and walk around in it.”

empathy

the ability to understand how someone feels because you can imagine what it is like to be them

What Is Empathy?

Kendra Cherry, MS, is an author and educational consultant focused on helping students learn about psychology.

Amy Morin, LCSW, is the Editor-in-Chief of Verywell Mind. She’s also a psychotherapist, the author of the bestselling book «13 Things Mentally Strong People Don’t Do,» and the host of The Verywell Mind Podcast.

Verywell / Bailey Mariner

What Is Empathy?

Empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what other people feel, see things from their point of view, and imagine yourself in their place. Essentially, it is putting yourself in someone else’s position and feeling what they are feeling.

Empathy means that when you see another person suffering, such as after they’ve lost a loved one, you are able to instantly envision yourself going through that same experience and feel what they are going through.

Empathy Definition

Merriam-Webster defines empathy, in part, as «the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.»

While people can be well-attuned to their own feelings and emotions, getting into someone else’s head can be a bit more difficult. The ability to feel empathy allows people to «walk a mile in another’s shoes,» so to speak. It permits people to understand the emotions that others are feeling.

Signs of Empathy

For many, seeing another person in pain and responding with indifference or even outright hostility seems utterly incomprehensible. But the fact that some people do respond in such a way clearly demonstrates that empathy is not necessarily a universal response to the suffering of others.

If you are wondering whether you are an empathetic person, here are some signs that show that you have this tendency:

Types of Empathy

There are several types of empathy that a person may experience. The three types of empathy are:

Empathy vs. Sympathy vs. Compassion

While sympathy and compassion are related to empathy, there are important differences. Compassion and sympathy are often thought to be more of a passive connection, while empathy generally involves a much more active attempt to understand another person.

Uses for Empathy

Being able to experience empathy has many beneficial uses.

Potential Pitfalls of Empathy

Having a great deal of empathy makes you concerned for the well-being and happiness of others. It also means, however, that you can sometimes get overwhelmed, burned out, or even overstimulated from always thinking about other people’s emotions. This can lead to empathy fatigue.

Empathy fatigue refers to the exhaustion you might feel both emotionally and physically after repeatedly being exposed to stressful or traumatic events. You might also feel numb or powerless, isolate yourself, and have a lack of energy.

Empathy fatigue is a concern in certain situations, such as when acting as a caregiver. Studies also show that if healthcare workers can’t balance their feelings of empathy (affective empathy, in particular), it can result in compassion fatigue as well.

Other research has linked higher levels of empathy with a tendency toward emotional negativity, potentially increasing your risk of empathic distress. It can even affect your judgment, causing you to go against your morals based on the empathy you feel for someone else.

Impact of Empathy

Your ability to experience empathy can impact your relationships. Studies involving siblings have found that when empathy is high, siblings have less conflict and more warmth toward each other. In romantic relationships, having empathy increases your ability to extend forgiveness.

Not everyone experiences empathy in every situation. Some people may be more naturally empathetic in general, but people also tend to feel more empathetic toward some people and less so toward others. Some of the factors that play a role in this tendency include:

Research has found that there are gender differences in the experience and expression of empathy, although these findings are somewhat mixed. Women score higher on empathy tests, and studies suggest that women tend to feel more cognitive empathy than men. 

At the most basic level, there appear to be two main factors that contribute to the ability to experience empathy: genetics and socialization. Essentially, it boils down to the age-old relative contributions of nature and nurture.

Parents pass down genes that contribute to overall personality, including the propensity toward sympathy, empathy, and compassion. On the other hand, people are also socialized by their parents, peers, communities, and society. How people treat others, as well as how they feel about others, is often a reflection of the beliefs and values that were instilled at a very young age.

Barriers to Empathy

Some people lack empathy and, therefore, aren’t able to understand what another person may be experiencing or feeling. This can result in behaviors that seem uncaring or sometimes even hurtful. For instance, people with low affective empathy have higher rates of cyberbullying.

A lack of empathy is also one of the defining characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder. Though, it is unclear whether this is due to a person with this disorder having no empathy at all or having more of a dysfunctional response to others.

A few reasons why people sometimes lack empathy include cognitive biases, dehumanization, and victim-blaming.

Cognitive Biases

Sometimes the way people perceive the world around them is influenced by cognitive biases. For example, people often attribute other people’s failures to internal characteristics, while blaming their own shortcomings on external factors.

These biases can make it difficult to see all the factors that contribute to a situation. They also make it less likely that people will be able to see a situation from the perspective of another.

Dehumanization

Many also fall victim to the trap of thinking that people who are different from them don’t feel and behave the same as they do. This is particularly common in cases when other people are physically distant.

For example, when they watch reports of a disaster or conflict in a foreign land, people might be less likely to feel empathy if they think that those who are suffering are fundamentally different from themselves.

Victim Blaming

Sometimes, when another person has suffered a terrible experience, people make the mistake of blaming the victim for their circumstances. This is the reason that victims of crimes are often asked what they might have done differently to prevent the crime.

This tendency stems from the need to believe that the world is a fair and just place. It is the desire to believe that people get what they deserve and deserve what they get—and it can fool you into thinking that such terrible things could never happen to you.

Causes of Empathy

Human beings are certainly capable of selfish, even cruel, behavior. A quick scan of the news quickly reveals numerous unkind, selfish, and heinous actions. The question, then, is why don’t we all engage in such self-serving behavior all the time? What is it that causes us to feel another’s pain and respond with kindness?

The term empathy was first introduced in 1909 by psychologist Edward B. Titchener as a translation of the German term einfühlung (meaning «feeling into»). Several different theories have been proposed to explain empathy.

Neuroscientific Explanations

Studies have shown that specific areas of the brain play a role in how empathy is experienced. More recent approaches focus on the cognitive and neurological processes that lie behind empathy. Researchers have found that different regions of the brain play an important role in empathy, including the anterior cingulate cortex and the anterior insula.

Research suggests that there are important neurobiological components to the experience of empathy.   The activation of mirror neurons in the brain plays a part in the ability to mirror and mimic the emotional responses that people would feel if they were in similar situations.

Functional MRI research also indicates that an area of the brain known as the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) plays a critical role in the experience of empathy. Studies have found that people who have damage to this area of the brain often have difficulty recognizing emotions conveyed through facial expressions.

Emotional Explanations

Some of the earliest explorations into the topic of empathy centered on how feeling what others feel allows people to have a variety of emotional experiences. The philosopher Adam Smith suggested that it allows us to experience things that we might never otherwise be able to fully feel.

This can involve feeling empathy for both real people and imaginary characters. Experiencing empathy for fictional characters, for example, allows people to have a range of emotional experiences that might otherwise be impossible.

Prosocial Explanations

Sociologist Herbert Spencer proposed that empathy served an adaptive function and aided in the survival of the species. Empathy leads to helping behavior, which benefits social relationships. Humans are naturally social creatures. Things that aid in our relationships with other people benefit us as well.

When people experience empathy, they are more likely to engage in prosocial behaviors that benefit other people. Things such as altruism and heroism are also connected to feeling empathy for others.

Tips for Practicing Empathy

Fortunately, empathy is a skill that you can learn and strengthen. If you would like to build your empathy skills, there are a few things that you can do:

A Word From Verywell

While empathy might be lacking in some, most people are able to empathize with others in a variety of situations. This ability to see things from another person’s perspective and empathize with another’s emotions plays an important role in our social lives. Empathy allows us to understand others and, quite often, compels us to take action to relieve another person’s suffering.

Understanding the difference between sympathy and empathy

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Empathy and sympathy are two terms that are often used interchangeably. But only one of them allows people to connect deeper than surface level.

So what is the difference between empathy and sympathy? And which should you practice?

Let’s explore how empathy and sympathy differ and why one of them is a better tool to help you connect with others at work and in life.

Empathy vs sympathy: key characteristics

Understanding the differences between empathy and sympathy can help you choose the most appropriate one given your circumstances. While empathy supports a deeper connection, there are times when a sympathetic response is more fitting.

To clarify, here is an overview empathy and sympathy and some examples of each.

What is empathy?

Empathy is the ability to understand and share a person’s feelings. If you’re an empathetic person, you can listen to what someone else has to say without judgment.

This ability to connect is not limited by your own experiences. An empathetic person can feel someone else’s emotions, regardless of their personal experiences.

You’re able to discover their perspective with awareness of non-verbal cues. You’re also able to simply listen without feeling forced to provide unwanted advice.

Plus, you can acknowledge everyone’s feelings in a given situation. This is particularly helpful in leadership positions. Looking at the bigger picture can help make more informed decisions.

Practicing empathy, instead of sympathy only, can help you get the emotional clarity you need to build upon important relationships. It can let you see another point of view.

Having empathy can also help you to improve your communication skills. That’s because you’re able to listen fully to others and understand their perspectives.

In fact, research shows that empathy can even help sustain cooperation during social dilemmas. Other studies have found that in a service setting, empathy can reduce discrimination and unethical behavior.

What is sympathy?

Unlike empathy, practicing sympathy doesn’t mean you feel what someone else feels. Instead, you feel pity or sorry for someone else’s feelings.

You feel bad for someone, but you don’t understand how they feel.

A sympathetic approach only provides a surface-level understanding of someone else’s situation. This understanding is typically from your perspective, not theirs.

Sympathy can also lead someone to give unsolicited advice to help the other person deal with their emotions.

When offering this advice, it’s common for sympathetic people to pass judgment. Unlike empathy, it’s still possible to pass judgment with sympathy.

What’s the difference between empathy vs. sympathy?

Both empathy and sympathy share the suffix pathy. This suffix comes from the Greek word pathos.

Pathos can mean several things. It can mean “emotion” or “feelings.” But it can also mean “suffering.”

This means that both empathy and sympathy deal with emotions. However, there’s one big difference between empathy and sympathy.

Empathy involves feeling what someone else feels, while sympathy doesn’t. Sympathy instead involves understanding someone else’s emotions but from your own perspective.

Empathy vs sympathy examples

Let’s look at empathy vs sympathy in similar situations.

First, imagine someone in your place of work was just reprimanded. As a result, they feel sad, nervous, and disappointed in themselves.

If you were to express sympathy, you could tell them that you’re sorry that they’re going through this. However, this wouldn’t stop you from feeling judgment towards their situation.

Perhaps you judge them for having been reprimanded. Some people might even say, “At least you still have your job!”

On the other hand, you wouldn’t say this if you were an empath. With empathy, you feel the sadness, nervousness, and disappointment the other person feels. You care about their well-being.

You can let them know they’re not alone. You don’t need to find a solution to their problem. Instead, you can say something like:

“I’m really sorry. I’m so glad you told me. I’m here for you.”

You resist the urge to try to make it go away.

Empathy is about connecting with the other person instead of trying to find an appropriate response.

Here’s another example. If someone at work tells you they’re having marriage problems, sympathy could look like this:

“Oh, that sucks. Have you tried marriage counseling?”

On the other hand, practicing empathy means fully listening to the other person. If this is someone you’re comfortable with, you can ask them if they want to talk about it with you.

There’s no need to try to fix the issue for them. Instead, offer a moment of connection.

Which is better: sympathy or empathy?

Sympathy doesn’t help you build deep connections with other people. This is because sympathy only offers surface-level understanding. It doesn’t allow you to see from someone else’s perspective.

On the other hand, empathy lets you walk in someone else’s shoes. As a result, you can better provide what they really need.

In the workplace, empathy can help you connect with your peers and get on the same level as them. Doing so can help you build a high-performance team.

4 ways to practice empathy

Practicing empathy, especially at work, is no easy feat.

68% of them also believe they’ll be less respected if they show empathy in the workplace.

However, only 25% of employees say that empathy in their organizations is sufficient.

Empathy is becoming a growing priority for employees as more and more Gen Z employees join the workforce. They’re the fastest-growing group in the workforce right now.

90% of Gen Z employees say that they’re more likely to stay at their jobs if their employer is empathetic.

If you have a leadership position in your organization, practicing empathy and making it a priority is key to building a more resilient workforce.

Here are four ways you can do so:

1. Listen actively instead of focusing on what to say next

Even when listening to someone else, people are often focused on their own thoughts.

It’s easy to think about what to say next instead of focusing on what the other person is saying. This gets in the way of fully and actively listening to the other person. It also makes it difficult to understand the emotions of another person.

Failure to listen will make it difficult to empathize.

Instead of focusing on your response, pay close attention to what someone is telling you. Listen attentively, not just for their words, but for other non-verbal cues, too.

Watch their body language and tone of voice to understand how they feel. You can easily miss these signals when you’re focused on your own response.

When the other person is finished speaking, take a moment to process the information. Only once you’ve processed all nuances of the conversation should you focus on what you want to say.

If you have a position of leadership, encourage your team to practice active listening.

2. Repeat in your own words

One of the first things you can say after listening to someone is to repeat what they’ve said but in your own words.

You can phrase this as something that you’ve heard.

Here’s an example:

“What I’m hearing is that you don’t feel valued in the team when Jeremy and Sophia speak over you. Is this right?”

When you present something as what you’ve heard, it places the burden on you, not on the other person. If you heard or understood something wrong, they can correct you.

3. Prioritize emotional intelligence

Emotional intelligence is an important soft skill to practice in your workplace if you want to improve empathy.

People who have high emotional intelligence tend to be:

In the workplace, it’s crucial to prioritize emotional intelligence in your team. It facilitates strong communicators, collaborators, and leaders.

4. Understand what the other person needs

Everyone is wired differently. We all have different needs.

It’s easy to imagine what you’d need if you were in the same situation as someone else. But what you need isn’t necessarily the same as what they need.

Resist the urge to automatically leap to conclusions about what someone needs when they tell you what they’re going through.

Instead, use your listening skills to figure out what they need. If you’re not sure, ask. It’s better to ask someone what they need than to assume and provide the wrong kind of support.

What can seem like empathy but isn’t?

Some scenarios can feel like empathy but aren’t really. Here are some examples to look for:

1. Someone in grief

Supporting someone who is grieving is a great example of what could be empathy, but it isn’t always.

When you go see someone in grief and tell them how sorry you are, it can feel like you’re empathetic to their situation. After all, you know it must be terrible to live a loss like that.

Maybe you even take the time to bring them flowers or a card.

However, this is an example of sympathy. That’s why most cards designed for people in grief say “Our Sympathies” on them. They’re also called sympathy cards for a reason.

Showing empathy requires a lot more than offering your condolences. It takes effort to imagine yourself in the grieving person’s shoes.

It also takes effort to be there for them and offer them the support they need.

2. A coworker struggling to keep up

A coworker comes to you to complain about struggling to focus and catch up with all their tasks.

As a result, you bombard them with your best time-saving techniques to help them get everything done. You feel this is empathetic because you are taking time out of your day to help them through something.

But the next day, you find that this coworker comes to you to complain again. Why is that? Didn’t you already help them?

This can happen because the first scenario didn’t show true empathy. While you did help them, you didn’t take the time to connect with how they felt.

When you take the time to do so, you realize that more is going on than you previously thought. They’re having issues at home, which are getting in the way of their focus.

By listening fully to what they have to say, you help them feel heard and supported. As a result, this coworker is now better able to focus afterward.

3. A friend who needs emotional support

A friend starts to complain about being tired because they struggle to fall asleep at night.

You quickly interrupt them to say, “Oh, I’ve been through that before. I know that’s really hard. What helped me was to take melatonin every night. It works like magic.”

Although it feels like you’re empathizing with them, this isn’t really the case. Instead of focusing on the other person, you redirected the conversation to be about you.

Empathy instead requires you to put your own feelings aside and focus on the other person.

Only by listening will you find out what the other person is looking for.

Compassion vs. empathy

Compassion and empathy are often used interchangeably. Though there’s a common thread between them, the two concepts are distinctly different.

Both compassion end empathy are fueled by an understanding of another human’s emotions. They both come with a desire and ability to connect with someone else and feel their pain.

Compassion goes a step further as an individual recognizes the pain in another and is motivated to help them.

That said, compassion does require a degree of separation. To effectively help someone else, you should be able to manage those empathetic feelings so that they don’t overwhelm you. With these feelings managed, a person has the capacity to find an appropriate response and see it through.

Empathy vs sympathy: know the difference

Sympathy is an expected sentiment. But empathy goes beyond what people expect.

It helps people connect, both at work and in life.

If you want to learn how to practice empathy, you can try personal coaching through BetterUp.

Schedule a demo today to see how BetterUp can help you develop emotional intelligence and reach your career potential.

Empathy at Work

Developing Skills to Understand Other People

Empathy is like a universal solvent. Any problem immersed in empathy becomes soluble. – Simon Baron-Cohen, British clinical psychologist, and professor of developmental psychopathology, University of Cambridge.

Understanding other people’s emotions is a key skill in the workplace. It can enable us to resolve conflicts, to build more productive teams, and to improve our relationships with co-workers, clients and customers.

But, while most of us are confident about learning new technical skills, we may feel ill-equipped to develop our interpersonal skills. And many people are self-conscious about discussing their own feelings, never mind anyone else’s!

Are you able to see things from someone else’s point of view?

In this article, we explore what it really means to show empathy. We’ll look at how a few simple actions can help us to create stronger connections, to build a culture of honesty and openness, and to make a real difference to the emotional well-being, and productivity, of our colleagues.

What Is Empathy?

In its simplest form, empathy is the ability to recognize emotions in others, and to understand other people’s perspectives on a situation. At its most developed, empathy enables you to use that insight to improve someone else’s mood and to support them through challenging situations.

Empathy is often confused with sympathy, but they are not the same thing. Sympathy is a feeling of concern for someone, and a sense that they could be happier. Unlike empathy, sympathy doesn’t involve shared perspective or emotions.

You can feel sympathy for someone you see in tears in the street, for example, without knowing anything about their situation. Sympathy may develop into empathy, but doesn’t necessarily do so.

According to influential psychologist Daniel Goleman, empathy is one of the five key components of emotional intelligence – a vital leadership skill. It develops through three stages: cognitive empathy, emotional empathy and compassionate empathy. We discuss each stage in turn, below.

Cognitive Empathy

Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand what another person might be thinking or feeling. It need not involve any emotional engagement by the observer.

Managers may find cognitive empathy useful in understanding how their team members are feeling, and therefore what style of leadership would get the best from them today. Similarly, sales executives can use it to gauge the mood of a customer, helping them to choose the most effective tone for a conversation.

Cognitive empathy is a mostly rational, intellectual, and emotionally neutral ability. This means that some people use it for negative purposes. For example, those with a Machiavellian personality trait may use cognitive empathy to manipulate people who are emotionally vulnerable.

Emotional Empathy

Emotional empathy is the ability to share the feelings of another person, and so to understand that person on a deeper level. It’s sometimes called «affective empathy» because it affects or changes you. It’s not just a matter of knowing how someone feels, but of creating genuine rapport with them.

For some of us, this kind of empathy can be overwhelming. People with strong empathic tendencies can become immersed in other people’s problems or pain, sometimes damaging their own emotional well-being. This is particularly true if they don’t feel able to resolve the situation.

Compassionate Empathy

Compassionate empathy is the most active form of empathy. It involves not only having concern for another person, and sharing their emotional pain, but also taking practical steps to reduce it.

For example, imagine that one of your team members is upset and angry because he or she delivered an important presentation badly. Acknowledging their hurt is valuable, and affirming their reaction by showing signs of those feelings yourself even more so. But best of all is putting aside some time for them, and offering practical support or guidance on getting through the situation and preparing for next time.

How to Develop Empathy at Work

You may struggle to show empathy initially – you could be nervous about committing yourself emotionally, or feel unable to do so. But this doesn’t mean that you’re doomed to fail!

To use empathy effectively, you need to put aside your own viewpoint and see things from the other person’s perspective. Then, you can recognize behavior that appears at first sight to be over emotional, stubborn, or unreasonable as simply a reaction based on a person’s prior knowledge and experiences.

Practice the following techniques frequently so that they start to become second nature.

Give Your Full Attention

Listen carefully to what someone is trying to tell you. Use your ears, eyes and «gut instincts» to understand the entire message that they’re communicating.

Start with listening out for the key words and phrases that they use, particularly if they use them repeatedly. Then think about how as well as what they’re saying. What’s their tone or body language telling you? Are they angry, ashamed or scared, for example?

Consider Other People’s Perspectives

You’re likely familiar with the saying, «Before you criticize someone, walk a mile in their shoes.» Examine your own attitude, and keep an open mind. Placing too much emphasis on your own assumptions and beliefs doesn’t leave much space for empathy!

Once you «see» why others believe what they believe, you can acknowledge it. This doesn’t mean you have to agree with it, but this is not the time for a debate. Instead, be sure to show respect and to keep listening.

When in doubt, invite the person to describe their position some more, and ask how they think they might resolve the issue. Asking the right questions is probably the simplest and most direct way to understand the other person.

Take Action

There’s no one «right way» to demonstrate your compassionate empathy. It will depend on the situation, the individual, and their dominant emotion at the time. Remember, empathy is not about what you want, but what the other person wants and needs, so any action you take or suggest must benefit them.

For example, you might have a team member who’s unable to focus on their work because of a problem at home. It may seem the kind thing to do to tell them they can work from home until the situation is resolved, but work may in fact give them a welcome respite from thinking about something painful. So ask them which approach they would prefer.

And remember that empathy is not just for crises! Seeing the world from a variety of perspectives is a great talent – and it’s one that you can use all of the time, in any situation. And random acts of kindness brighten anyone’s day.

For example, you likely smile and take the trouble to remember people’s names: that’s empathy in action. Giving people your full attention in meetings, being curious about their lives and interests, and offering constructive feedback are all empathic behaviors, too.

Key Points

Empathy is the ability to recognize emotions and to share perspectives with other people. It’s one of the five key components of emotional intelligence, and it helps to build trust and strengthen relationships.

There are three stages of empathy:

To use empathy effectively, give your co-worker your full attention, looking out for verbal and nonverbal clues to help you fully understand their situation. Set aside your own assumptions, acknowledge your colleague’s feelings, allow an emotional connection, then take positive action that will improve their well-being.

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Understanding others’ feelings: what is empathy and why do we need it?

Author

Senior Lecturer in Social Neuroscience, Monash University

Disclosure statement

Pascal Molenberghs receives funding from the Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Early Career Research Award: DE130100120) and Heart Foundation (Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship: 1000458).

Partners

Monash University provides funding as a founding partner of The Conversation AU.

This is the introductory essay in our series on understanding others’ feelings. In it we will examine empathy, including what it is, whether our doctors need more of it, and when too much may not be a good thing.

Empathy is the ability to share and understand the emotions of others. It is a construct of multiple components, each of which is associated with its own brain network. There are three ways of looking at empathy.

First there is affective empathy. This is the ability to share the emotions of others. People who score high on affective empathy are those who, for example, show a strong visceral reaction when watching a scary movie.

They feel scared or feel others’ pain strongly within themselves when seeing others scared or in pain.

Cognitive empathy, on the other hand, is the ability to understand the emotions of others. A good example is the psychologist who understands the emotions of the client in a rational way, but does not necessarily share the emotions of the client in a visceral sense.

Finally, there’s emotional regulation. This refers to the ability to regulate one’s emotions. For example, surgeons need to control their emotions when operating on a patient.

Another way to understand empathy is to distinguish it from other related constructs. For example, empathy involves self-awareness, as well as distinction between the self and the other. In that sense it is different from mimicry, or imitation.

Many animals might show signs of mimicry or emotional contagion to another animal in pain. But without some level of self-awareness, and distinction between the self and the other, it is not empathy in a strict sense. Empathy is also different from sympathy, which involves feeling concern for the suffering of another person and a desire to help.

That said, empathy is not a unique human experience. It has been observed in many non-human primates and even rats.

Research has also shown those with psychopathic traits are often very good at regulating their emotions.

Why do we need it?

Empathy is important because it helps us understand how others are feeling so we can respond appropriately to the situation. It is typically associated with social behaviour and there is lots of research showing that greater empathy leads to more helping behaviour.

However, this is not always the case. Empathy can also inhibit social actions, or even lead to amoral behaviour. For example, someone who sees a car accident and is overwhelmed by emotions witnessing the victim in severe pain might be less likely to help that person.

Similarly, strong empathetic feelings for members of our own family or our own social or racial group might lead to hate or aggression towards those we perceive as a threat. Think about a mother or father protecting their baby or a nationalist protecting their country.

People who are good at reading others’ emotions, such as manipulators, fortune-tellers or psychics, might also use their excellent empathetic skills for their own benefit by deceiving others.

Interestingly, people with higher psychopathic traits typically show more utilitarian responses in moral dilemmas such as the footbridge problem. In this thought experiment, people have to decide whether to push a person off a bridge to stop a train about to kill five others laying on the track.

The psychopath would more often than not choose to push the person off the bridge. This is following the utilitarian philosophy that holds saving the life of five people by killing one person is a good thing. So one could argue those with psychopathic tendencies are more moral than normal people – who probably wouldn’t push the person off the bridge – as they are less influenced by emotions when making moral decisions.

How is empathy measured?

Empathy is often measured with self-report questionnaires such as the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) or Questionnaire for Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE).

These typically ask people to indicate how much they agree with statements that measure different types of empathy.

The QCAE, for instance, has statements such as, “It affects me very much when one of my friends is upset”, which is a measure of affective empathy.

Cognitive empathy is determined by the QCAE by putting value on a statement such as, “I try to look at everybody’s side of a disagreement before I make a decision.”

Using the QCAE, we recently found people who score higher on affective empathy have more grey matter, which is a collection of different types of nerve cells, in an area of the brain called the anterior insula.

We also found people who score higher on cognitive empathy had more grey matter in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex.

This area is typically activated during more cognitive processes, such as Theory of Mind, which is the ability to attribute mental beliefs to yourself and another person. It also involves understanding that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives different from one’s own.

Can empathy be selective?

Research shows we typically feel more empathy for members of our own group, such as those from our ethnic group. For example, one study scanned the brains of Chinese and Caucasian participants while they watched videos of members of their own ethnic group in pain. They also observed people from a different ethnic group in pain.

The researchers found that a brain area called the anterior cingulate cortex, which is often active when we see others in pain, was less active when participants saw members of ethnic groups different from their own in pain.

Other studies have found brain areas involved in empathy are less active when watching people in pain who act unfairly. We even see activation in brain areas involved in subjective pleasure, such as the ventral striatum, when watching a rival sport team fail.

Yet, we do not always feel less empathy for those who aren’t members of our own group. In our recent study, students had to give monetary rewards or painful electrical shocks to students from the same or a different university. We scanned their brain responses when this happened.

Brain areas involved in rewarding others were more active when people rewarded members of their own group, but areas involved in harming others were equally active for both groups.

These results correspond to observations in daily life. We generally feel happier if our own group members win something, but we’re unlikely to harm others just because they belong to a different group, culture or race. In general, ingroup bias is more about ingroup love rather than outgroup hate.

Yet in some situations, it could be helpful to feel less empathy for a particular group of people. For example, in war it might be beneficial to feel less empathy for people you are trying to kill, especially if they are also trying to harm you.

To investigate, we conducted another brain imaging study. We asked people to watch videos from a violent video game in which a person was shooting innocent civilians (unjustified violence) or enemy soldiers (justified violence).

While watching the videos, people had to pretend they were killing real people. We found the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, typically active when people harm others, was active when people shot innocent civilians. The more guilt participants felt about shooting civilians, the greater the response in this region.

However, the same area was not activated when people shot the soldier that was trying to kill them.

The results provide insight into how people regulate their emotions. They also show the brain mechanisms typically implicated when harming others become less active when the violence against a particular group is seen as justified.

This might provide future insights into how people become desensitised to violence or why some people feel more or less guilty about harming others.

Our empathetic brain has evolved to be highly adaptive to different types of situations. Having empathy is very useful as it often helps to understand others so we can help or deceive them, but sometimes we need to be able to switch off our empathetic feelings to protect our own lives, and those of others.

Tomorrow’s article will look at whether art can cultivate empathy.