empathy

April 29, 2007 by  

I’ve been thinking a lot about the importance of empathy since watching “The Queen” the other night. The juxtaposition of how intensely Princess Diana was in touch with her empathy, vs how completely Queen Elizabeth II repressed hers, had a breathtaking (and empathetic) effect upon me.

So its no coincidence (but surely a synchronicity) that “empathy” started showing up everywhere. I’m posting excerpts from recent articles, interspersed with other examples (ex. Roddenberry, Clinton, Springsteen) that have have influenced me over time.

Definition. Empathy:

Empathy (from the Greek εμπάθεια, “to make suffer”) is commonly defined as one’s ability to recognize, perceive and directly experientially feel the emotion of another. As the states of mind, beliefs, and desires of others are intertwined with their emotions, one with empathy for another may often be able to more effectively define another’s modes of thought and mood. Empathy is often characterized as the ability to “put oneself into another’s shoes”, or experiencing the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself, a sort of emotional resonance.

(Via Wikipedia)

TV. Gene Roddenberry, creator of Star Trek: The Next Generation character Deanna Troi.

Deanna was ship’s counselor on the USS Enterprise-D, and later, on the USS Enterprise-E. She would also go on to serve in this role on the USS Titan .

Though lacking the full Betazoid range of mental abilities, due to her half-human heritage, Deanna is an extra-sensory empath with Clairsentience. This often came in useful when dealing with hostile aliens.

(Via Wikipedia)

Music. Bruce Springsteen: Musical style.

Springsteen’s lyrics often concern people struggling to make ends meet. He has gradually become identified with progressive politics, various charitable causes and his response to the September 11, 2001 attacks, on which his album The Rising reflects.

In recent years Springsteen’s recordings tended to alternate between mainstream rock and more sombre topical, folk-oriented music. Much of Springsteen’s iconic status stems from his concert performances: marathon shows up to four hours in length, in which he and the E Street Band energetically perform intense ballads, rousing anthems and rock and roll party songs, interspersed with Springsteen’s whimsical or deeply personal stories.

(Via Wikipedia)

Politics. Bill Clinton, the 42nd president, heads the Clinton Foundation: Boris the Fighter

Boris Yeltsin was intelligent, passionate, emotional, strong-willed and courageous. He wasn’t perfect, and he had to contend with staggering political and economic challenges as he led Russia away from centuries of authoritarian rule. But lead he did. At the end of the cold war, Russia and the world were lucky to have him.

History will be kind to my friend Boris.

(Via NYT)

Journalism. Anna Quindlen, author and columnist: The Great Obligation

All this makes you wonder if journalism schools should teach not just accuracy, but empathy. But the truth is, you really get that by covering stories, not studying them, by imagining yourself in the place of the people you interview.

(Via Newsweek)

Psychiatry. Richard Friedman M.D., director of the psychopharmacoloy clinic at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University: Understanding Empathy: Can You Feel My Pain?

What is critical to understanding someone is not necessarily having had his or her experience; it is being able to imagine what it would be like to have it. Thus, I do not have to be black to empathize with the toxic effects of racial prejudice, or be a woman to know how I would feel about being denied promotion on the basis of sex.

Contrary to what many people believe, being empathic is not the same thing as being nice.

In the right hands, empathy has tremendous positive therapeutic force and can narrow what looks like an unbridgeable gap between patients and therapists.

(Via NYT)

Neuroscience. Dr. Arthur D. Craig, neuroscientist at the Barrow Neurological Institute in Phoenix: A Small Part of the Brain, and Its Profound Effects

It is in the frontal insula, Dr. Craig said, that simple body states or sensations are recast as social emotions. A bad taste or smell is sensed in the frontal insula as disgust. A sensual touch from a loved one is transformed into delight.

The frontal insula is where people sense love and hate, gratitude and resentment, self-confidence and embarrassment, trust and distrust, empathy and contempt, approval and disdain, pride and humiliation, truthfulness and deception, atonement and guilt.

People who are better at reading these sensations — a quickened heart beat, a flushed face, slow breathing — score higher on psychological tests of empathy, researchers have found.

(Via NYT)

Workplace. Amy Joyce, Columnist – Life at Work: Two-Way Empathy Thaws an Icy Response to Time Off

(Via Washington Post)

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