Renowned psychologists Daniel Goleman and Paul Ekman have identified three components of empathy: Cognitive, Emotional and Compassionate.
Empaths are very sensitive to their environment
They can also feel into others and understand their emotions, motivations, and feelings on a deep level. Plus, it's in an empath's nature to be naturally giving, open, and be good listeners. They have the heart; they can nurture others and are as reliable as they come.
Empathy can motivate us to be good to others as we can imagine what it would be like to be in their position and think about how we would wish to be treated. Here, then, lies the origin of The Golden Rule. The Golden Rule can be expressed positively: 'Treat others as you would like to be treated yourself.
Affirm – You are on the right track, Vineet, your suggestion is helpful. Acknowledge – I can see you feel frustrated with the poor implementation. Appreciate – Your ability to persuade the buying committee has moved us forward. Assure – Don't worry, I can solve this.
Empathic skills are abilities that relate to the identification and use of emotions in the workplace. You can remain informed of your own thoughts and feelings, and you can identify how your colleagues may feel as well. Empathy is often present during conversations in the professional environment.
Especially in social psychology, empathy can be categorized as an emotional or cognitive response.
Some of the most widely used questionnaires have been Hogan's empathy (EM) scale (Hogan 1969), Mehrabian and Epstein's questionnaire measure of emotional empathy (QMEE; Mehrabian and Epstein 1972), and, since the 1980s, Davis's Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI; Davis 1980, 1983, and 1994).
Understanding others: this is the most important concept of empathy which is understanding. The ability to sense others' feelings and perspectives and taking active participation to deal with that.
Empathy is “the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another”. It's active. It's taking on another person's suffering.
According to design researcher Froukje Sleeswijk Visser, the 4 steps to promoting empathy in the design process are discovery, immersion, connection, and detachment.
“Empathy plays a critical interpersonal and societal role, enabling sharing of experiences, needs, and desires between individuals and providing an emotional bridge that promotes prosocial behavior.
It's the ability to step into the shoes of another person, aiming to understand their feelings and perspectives, and to use that understanding to guide our actions. That makes it different from kindness or pity.
Skill One: The Ability to Take Their Perspective
And yes even including those that appear to go around in circles with their troubles. Very few people choose to stay in emotional pain and anguish if they recognise a way out.
As such, Jack et al. (2014) proposed that we humans have four basic emotions: fear, anger, joy, and sad.
Most of us grew up with the Golden Rule (Do unto others as you would have them do unto you). The “Platinum Rule” is a common business buzzword. The Platinum Rule states that instead of treating people the way you want to be treated, you should invest time in discovering how they want to be treated.
The Basic Empathy formula can be used for reflecting of what someone is feeling or saying. The basic empathy formula is you feel (happy or sad) because of (experience or behaviour).
Emotion researchers generally define empathy as the ability to sense other people's emotions, coupled with the ability to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling.
Low emotional intelligence, burnout, and stress
Being under prolonged stress may also lead someone to be less tolerant of other people's behavior and have lower cognitive empathy. In some cases, emotional avoidance may also be a reason why someone may not develop or practice empathy.
Empathy is learned behavior even though the capacity for it is inborn. The best way to think about empathy is an innate capacity that needs to be developed, and to see it as a detail in a larger picture.