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Animals can feel empathy for other animals and humans

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Animals can feel empathy just like humans do. Empathy for each other, for us, and even for other species.

Empathy is feeling what others feel. Empathy is the ability to not only detect what others feel but also to experience that emotion yourself.. We humans can empathise with each other and other animals. When we empathise, we 'feel into' others and understand how they feel.

We do this with people all the time. We also do it with non-human animals.

Anyone who has cared for a companion animal such as a dog will likely empathise with them too - for example feeling their excitement at dinner time, boredom after a long day indoors, pain when they stand on a thorn.

We can also empathise with other animals such as when we feel the pleasure of new born lambs frolicking in the sun or the sadness of a gorilla trapped in a zoo.

But can other animals also empathise? Many people may think it obvious that non-human animals will empathise with each other. This conclusion may be drawn from personal experiences of simply observing animals' behaviour or from the fact that we are so physically similar in many ways. Many people ascribe empathy to their dogs.

It is thought that empathy is more likely to be present in social species. James Harris at Johns Hopkins University in the US believes that empathy is "an evolutionary mechanism to maintain social cohesion. If you're evolving and you're in a group, you're more sensitive to the pain of other members in a group."

Once believed by many to be only a human trait, scientists are now finding evidence of empathy in non-human animals, mainly in other primates such as chimpanzees, orangutans, but also in dogs, mice, and recently in chickens. Empathetic behaviour has also been reported in elephants.

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Empathy in Animals - Animal Behaviour - OneKind

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Animals can feel empathy just like humans do. Empathy for each other, for us, and even for other species. Empathy is feeling what others feel. Empathy is the ability to not only detect what others feel but also to experience that emotion yourself.. We humans can empathise with each other and other animals.

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Being able to understand and sense the emotions of others and to be to imagine how someone is feeling

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“If speaking is silver, then listening is gold.” –  Turkish Proverb

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Did you know?

Sympathy and empathy both refer to a caring response to the emotional state of another person, but a distinction between them is typically made: while sympathy is a feeling of sincere concern for someone who is experiencing something difficult or painful, empathy involves actively sharing in the emotional experience of the other person.

Sympathy has been in use since the 16th century, and its greater age is reflected in its wider breadth of meanings, including "a feeling of loyalty" and "unity or harmony in action or effect." It comes ultimately from the Greek sympathēs, meaning "having common feelings, sympathetic," which was formed from syn- ("with, together with") and páthos, "experience, misfortune, emotion, condition." Empathy was modeled on sympathy; it was coined in the early 20th century as a translation of the German Einfühlung ("feeling-in" or "feeling into"). First applied in contexts of philosophy, aesthetics, and psychology, empathy continues to have technical use in those fields that sympathy does not.

Did you know?

Compassion and empathy both refer to a caring response to someone else's distress. While empathy refers to an active sharing in the emotional experience of the other person, compassion adds to that emotional experience a desire to alleviate the person's distress.

... the story of Nellie Bly, the first female investigative reporter, who not only demanded justice from powerful institutions, but also insisted on dignity and compassion for the most vulnerable citizens. - The Christian Science Monitor, 17 Aug. 2022

Blonde clearly wants us to feel for Norma Jeane, but it dwells on her pain so obsessively ... that the movie's empathy feels like another form of exploitation. - Justin Chang, NPR, 23 Sept. 2022

The distinction between compassion and empathy is frequently a topic of exploration.

By empathy I mean feeling the feelings of other people. So if you're in pain and I feel your pain-I am feeling empathy toward you. If you're being anxious, I pick up your anxiety. If you're sad and I pick up your sadness, I'm being empathetic. And that's different from compassion. Compassion means I give your concern weight, I value it. I care about you, but I don't necessarily pick up your feelings. ... [I]f I feel compassion for you, I'll be invigorated. I'll be happy and I'll try to make your life better. - Paul Bloom, quoted in Vox, 16 Jan. 2019

Compassion is a much older word; it's been part of the language since the 14th century, and comes ultimately from Latin com- and pati, meaning "to bear, suffer." Empathy is a 20th century coinage modeled on sympathy as a translation of the German Einfühlung ("feeling-in" or "feeling into"). It was first applied in contexts of philosophy, aesthetics, and psychology and continues to have technical use in those fields.

Example Sentences

He felt great His months spent researching prison life gave him greater empathy with the poor. empathy towards convicts.

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'empathy.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Word History

Greek empatheia, literally, passion, from empathēs emotional, from em- + pathos feelings, emotion - more at pathos

1909, in the meaning defined at sense 2

The first known use of empathy was in 1909

Dictionary Entries Near empathy

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the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit... See the full definition

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Strengthens personal and social relationships

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“I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.” – Maya Angelou

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I like this

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“Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant with the weak and wrong. Sometime in your life, you will have been all of these.” –  Gautama Buddha

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Helping the homeless

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“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” – Mother Teresa

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con·​nec·​tion | \ kə-ˈnek-shən \

a : causal or logical relation or sequence the connection between two ideas

b(1) : contextual relation or association In this connection the word has a different meaning.

(2) : relationship in fact wanted in connection with a robbery

c : a relation of personal intimacy (as of family ties) Family connections can make getting a job much easier.

d : coherence, continuity … a confused multitude without order or connection.— John Locke

2 a : something that connects : link a loose connection in the wiring

b : a means of communication or transport a telephone connection

3 : a person connected with another especially by marriage, kinship, or common interest has powerful connections

4 : a political, social, professional, or commercial relationship The school has no connection with the museum. : such as

b : an arrangement to execute orders or advance interests of another a firm's foreign connections

c : a source of contraband (such as illegal drugs)

5 : a set of persons associated together: such as

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the act of connecting : the state of being connected: such as; causal or logical relation or sequence; contextual relation or association... See the full definition

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Connection is vital to humans because its affects the body, mind, emotional, and spirit

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Body connections through physical touch, something as simple as a hug or consoling hand

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Mind connections are made though communication and sharing ideas with others

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Emotional connections are made through sharing emotions such as fear

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Spiritual connections are made through helping each other grow and coming together for a greater purpose

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connection is the energy made between two people

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Animals and humans can form connections

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connections can be made online

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joining clubs is a great way to make connections

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photography is a great form of storytelling

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scars tell stories

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everyone has a story to tell

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a teller of stories: such as; a relater of anecdotes; a reciter of tales (as in a children's library)... See the full definition

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stories can be told through tradition and culture

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We know history through storytelling

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poems are a form of storytelling

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books tell many stories

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Music is a great way to tell a story

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campfires are the perfect time to tell stories