Empathy

[football]

Whats the difference between empathy & sympathy? Are they both tactfulness? Can they be learnt?

[Lisa-Marie]

there is no differance, empathy is just another way of saying sympathy.

[Cetti]

I believe there is a difference bewteen the two, and to my knowledge neither has anything to do with being tactful.

Take the example of a bereavement - to see someone in floods of tears after the loss of a loved one makes most people exude the emotional response of sympathy. Now if you have suffered a bereavement yourself then you will have a much better idea of what that person is suffering - and that is empathy.

Over to you QM for a much better explanation.

[jjf2003]

Here's how my English teacher explained it to me. If you see a pin being stuck into someone, you can sympathise with that person (feel sorry for them), but you can't empathise with them because it's not happening to you. If you were having the same experience as them, you could empathise.

[coemgen]

To sympathise is to give an emotional response, while to empathise is to be able to put yourself into the other person's shoes while still keeping objective.

[Lisa-Marie]

whoops looks like i was wrong...sorry

[Quizmonster]

There was a difference which seems to have been blurred over time, so that today they are used more or less synonymously.

'Sympathy' was - and is - the power of entering another person's mind and having a fellow feeling for them. 'Syn', the original Greek prefix means 'with', so the suggestion is of sharing.

Empathy' was - and largely no longer is - the power of projecting one's personality into and so fully comprehending the object one is looking at. One can, therefore, feel empathy for a work of art, say. 'En', the original Greek prefix, means 'in', so the suggestion is of entering.

As I said earlier, though, there is little difference in the words' usage now.

[brawburd]

unless you are a social worker QM, then the difference is your bread n butter!

[kags]

If someone tells you they are feeling very upset because their dog has died, you could sympathise with them by saying "oh poor you, there there, have a cup of tea". Full empathy - as mentioned above - would be saying "oh yes, that happened to me and I know just how you feel" but personally I don't think it is ever possible to feel the same thing as someone else, even in similar circumstances, so it isn't very helpful (quite apart from the fact you end up talking about yourself) The best way would be to use a type of empathy - "you sound really upset, let's talk about how you are feeling". In reality you would probably use a combination of all 3, which is maybe why the disctinctions have become blurred in common language. As brawburd quite rightly points out though, the differences are crucial in social work, counselling or any work involving emotional support.

[monkey spank]

Empathy is to put yourself in someone else's shoes, to get an idea of how they must be feeling after, for example, if their mum has died or something. sympathy, on the other hand is, a feeling of pity towards someone suffering pain, grief or trouble.Sympathy can also mean, a liking for each other produced in people who have similar opinions or tastes.