Definition

Empathy is the ability to share another person’s emotional state. For example, someone may be happy that their excited sibling got engaged, even if they don’t directly benefit from said union. Empathy is often confused with sympathy, but they aren’t the same.

Additional resources

• The Empathic Brain of Psychopaths: From Social Science to Neuroscience in Empathy (Frontiers in Psychology)

Summary

Empathy is the ability to share another person’s emotional state. For example, someone may be happy that their excited sibling got engaged, even if they don’t directly benefit from said union. Empathy is often confused with sympathy, but they aren’t the same.

Related terms

• Antisocial Personality Disorder
• Autism
• Narcissistic Personality Disorder
• Psychopathy

Usage Examples

“Eiji empathized with his friend’s loss so much that he began crying himself.”

Instead of:	Use:
“Turned a blind eye”	purposely ignored, allowed to happen, oblivious to
“Fell on deaf ears”	Ignored, unswayed by, remained unheard, not persuaded by

Update History

12/12/2021	Description updated
06/12/2021	Reference updated