Empathy is an ability to understand other person's situation by stepping into their shoes.
Daniel Goleman has described 3 stages of empathy
1) Cognitive Empathy (Brain)
Logically and cognitively claiming to be understanding other's situation.
2) Emotional Empathy
Here you connect emotionally with the other person, understanding their feelings, emotions as they are experiencing them.
3) Compassionate Empathy
Here you not only try to understand the emotions of other person but also help them find ways to get relief and lower their pain.
Thank you :)
I've never thought about empathy being separated into parts like this, thanks for sharing!
Empathy is a very important concept, that has been studied and defined by various psychologists. Me, personally, whenever I hear about empathy, I think of Carl Rogers and his person-centred approach.
In "A theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework" he defined empathy as: "[the perception of] the internal frame of reference of another with accuracy and with the emotional components and meanings which pertain thereto as if one were the person, but without ever losing the "as if" condition" (Rogers, 1959, p. 210-211)
If you're interested in empathy, I believe you'll enjoy his article "A theory of therapy, personality, and interpersonal relationships as developed in the client-centered framework" - http://www.sageofasheville.com/pub_downloads/EMPATHIC_AN_UNAPPRECIATED_WAY_OF_BEING.pdf
I didn't know that. Thank you for sharing this nugget of information.