The self and perception discussion

Choices & Connections (with /LaunchPad – Six-Month Access)

by Steven McCornack, and Joseph Ortiz
Copyright 2020, MacMillan Publishing

ISBN – 978-1319314385

ANSWER

The Self and Perception Discussion

Empathy refers to the ability of a person to understand other people’s feelings as if they were occurring to them. On the other hand, sympathy refers to the ability of a person to process someone else’s person and react to them by being sorrowful about their misfortune. Both these two terms are related yet highly different. They share the ‘pathy’ root word translated from a Greek word, pathos, which stands for emotion or feeling. An example of sympathy is a condolence letter to a bereaved family after a loss. Walt Whitman, a poet described empathy as a person becoming ‘the wounded person’ while experiencing how someone else feels (Shaddock 2019). Most researchers find that most people content themselves with being sympathetic because empathy does not come easily. Empathy requires training and effort has to be put into it for it works.

Both the two are instrumental when communicating but empathy weighs more. The ability to relate to people’s emotions cannot compare to the ability to be sorry for them for their misfortune. Being emphatic assists in saying the right thing at the right time and even reacting in a way that allows for accommodation for those in a difficult situation. For instance, at the workplace, an empathetic boss can relate with his subordinates and understand their shortcomings in a way that does not make them feel inadequate. Empathy is something every person should aspire to learn.

References

McCornack, S., & Ortiz, J. (2019). Choices & Connections: An Introduction to Communication. Macmillan Higher Education.

Shaddock, D. (2019). A Universe between My Hat and Boots: Whitman’s Self as a Model for Empathic Connection. Psychoanalysis, Self and Context, 14(3), 323-333.