The ability to recognize, understand, and share the feelings of others is known as:
This article is part of our series on Empathy- based Research. Show At Brand Genetics, we use empathy as a qualitative research technique to help our clients understand their consumers. Applied empathy helps us reframe a challenge from a consumer perspective, and in doing so reveal new opportunities. But what exactly is empathy? Beyond metaphorThe metaphors of ‘standing in someone else’s shoes’ and ‘seeing through someone else’s eyes’ are often used to describe empathy. These metaphors are evocative, but empathy is also a specific mental ability, like intelligence. In essence, empathy is the ability to feel and understand what someone else is feeling. Empathy is emotional insightEmpathy is a mental ability that produces emotional insight, allowing us to feel and understand the emotional world of someone else. The term empathy is actually a translation of the German word “Einfühlung”, which quite literally means emotional insight (in-feeling). German philosopher Theodor Lipps coined this term “Einfühlung” in 1903 to denote our mental ability to project ourselves into the body of someone else and feel what they are feeling. For example, when we observe the adrenalin-pumping performances of an acrobat, we project ourselves into them, and “we feel ourselves inside the acrobat”. The German “Einfühlung” was translated into “empathy” the following decade by British psychologists James Ward and Edward Titchener. Today, the Cambridge English Dictionary defines empathy in a way that is consistent with this original understanding as “the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation.” List of Empathy DefinitionsJust as you have an IQ (intelligence quotient), you have an EQ (empathy quotient) which measures your capacity for emotional insight – the ability to feel and understand what someone else is feeling. For over a century, scientists have been researching empathy, both as a partially genetically inherited personality trait and as a learned skill. Over this time, they have adopted a number of definitions of empathy to delineate empathy from related terms such as sympathy, emotional intelligence and compassion. Here’s a useful list of definitions that capture the essence of empathy.
What is the ability to share emotions?Empathy is the ability to recognize emotions and to share perspectives with other people.
What is this ability to recognize the meaning of emotion?This skill is called emotional awareness. Emotional awareness helps us know what we need and want (or don't want!). It helps us build better relationships.
What is it called when you reflect other people's emotions?Some people, known as empaths, have such high empathy that they seem to take on the feelings of others. If you're an empath, you might find yourself absorbing the emotions of those around you. When they experience joy, you get caught up in their happiness.
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