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Are you empathetic?

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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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What is empathy, really?

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Empathy is the experience of understanding another person's thoughts, feelings, and condition from their point of view, rather than from your own. You try to imagine yourself in their place in order to understand what they are feeling or experiencing.

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Animals can demonstrate empathy

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Tara, a chimpanzee, yawns while watching a video of chimpanzees from her group yawning on an iPod.

Credit: Copyright Yerkes National Primate Research Center

For chimpanzees, like humans, yawning can be contagious. And new research offers evidence that for these apes picking up a yawn is a sign of social connection.

The researchers showed chimpanzees a video of other chimpanzees and found they yawned more frequently after watching a chimpanzee from their own group yawn than a chimpanzee from another group - evidence that they were more influenced by others with whom they empathized. [ Video of Yawning Chimpanzee]

Like chimpanzees, humans show more empathy - the ability to understand and share in another's feelings - for members of their own social group. No one has studied whether or not biases like this affect contagious yawning in humans, but the researchers believe we are like our closest living relatives in this regard.

"The idea is that yawns are contagious for the same reason that smiles, frowns and other facial expressions are contagious," write the researchers, Matthew Campbell and Frans de Waal of the Yerkes National Primate Research Center at Emory University in Georgia, online Wednesday (April 6) in the journal PLoS ONE. "The mechanism that allows someone to reflexively mimic a smile is thought to also allow for reflexive mimicry of yawns." [ Kids with Autism Don't Experience Contagious Yawns]

Campbell and de Waal showed 23 chimpanzees from two separate groups video clips of other chimpanzees yawning or doing something else. The chimps yawned 50 percent more frequently in response to video of members of their group yawning versus video of the other group members yawning. The researchers note that the chimps paid more attention to the video of unfamiliar chimps.

It's important to note that humans and chimpanzees have different parameters for determining the insider who elicits empathy and the outsider who doesn't. Humans define their own social group more broadly than do chimpanzees. So, an unfamiliar person can be included within a human social group, but an unfamiliar chimpanzee is by definition an outsider, they write. (Chimps have also been shown to yawn in response to yawning animated characters; however, this is likely because the artificial nature of the animation prevented the chimps from perceiving the character as an outsider, Campbell and de Waal write.)

Contagious yawning has been documented in five species, including dogs, which can catch yawns from people.

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For chimpanzees, like humans, yawning can be contagious. And new research offers evidence that for these apes picking up a yawn is a sign of social connection. The researchers showed chimpanzees a video of other chimpanzees and found they yawned more frequently after watching a chimpanzee from their own group yawn than a chimpanzee from another group - evidence that they were more influenced by others with whom they empathized.

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Can animals teach us about empathy?

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Uploaded by Jessica Thibault on 2014-01-18.

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How soon does empathy begin?

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Addison is sensitive to the emotions of others. When she makes a noise that startles Nathan and makes him cry, she cries right alongside him. Hilarious! Found it looking through pics/videos on my computer and wanted to share.

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What is storytelling?

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Bob Dylan is a musician who won the Nobel Peace Prize in LITERATURE

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Bob Dylan | Biography, Albums, Streaming Links | AllMusic

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Find Bob Dylan bio, music, credits, awards, & streaming links on AllMusic - Iconic singer/songwriter and musical wanderer who...

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Joan Baez is an icon of the Folk music movement which focused on storytelling.

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Joan Baez -  The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

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This video has been removed,so I`m uploading it again for you to enjoy! It`s really something! All offensive comments will be removed! Add &fmt=18 to url to view in HQ ...one of the best-loved songs ever recorded about the Civil War: "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" by The Band.

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What's your story?

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In early cultures, storytellers used to be highly regarded, like priests.

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Synonyms/Antonyms for connection...

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I found great synonyms for "connection" on the new Thesaurus.com!

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Synonyms for connection at Thesaurus.com with free online thesaurus, antonyms, and definitions. Find descriptive alternatives for connection.

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Any excuse to include a little Elastica!

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Elastica - Connection (Official Music Video)

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Sometimes we have the best intentions for connection, but we just...miss it, you know?

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"No man is an island."

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Can you find commonality with any of these examples of oral tradition?

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Oral tradition is information passed down through the generations by word of mouth that is not written down. This includes historical and cultural traditions, literature and law.

Oral Traditions in Customs

Blowing out candles at birthday celebrations

Not wearing white to a wedding, unless you are the bride

Celebrating the bounty of the harvest at a festival

Babies wearing white at christenings

Rituals for new members of a fraternity or sorority

Taking a gift when invited to someone's house for dinner

Throwing a baby shower for a mother-to-be

Having bachelor or bachelorette parties before a wedding

Having a bridal shower for a new bride

Tip a waiter or waitress for good service

Greetings like a nod, bow, smile, handshake or verbal greeting

Removing shoes before entering a home

Oral Traditions in Beliefs That Are Superstitions

Find a penny, pick it up and all day long, you'll have good luck

A black cat crossing your path will bring bad luck

Friday the 13th

Cross your fingers for luck

Break a wishbone and the person with the bigger portion will have good luck

Knock on wood for good luck

Step on a crack, break your mother's back

Finding a horseshoe brings good luck

Blow out all of the candles on your birthday cake with one breath and your wish will come true

Make a wish upon a falling star and it will come true

Animals can talk at midnight on Christmas Eve

Oral Traditions in Beliefs About Weddings

It's bad luck for the groom to see the bride before the wedding

The bride wears white to symbolize chastity

The bride needs something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue

Sweden - gold and sliver coins are placed inside a bride's wedding shoe

Norway - the bride wears a silver crown with charms to ward off evil spirits

Czech newlyweds are showered with peas instead of rice

The groom carries the bride across the threshold

Hindu tradition states that rain on your wedding day is good luck

The fourth finger was chosen for engagement and wedding rings because it was once believed that it contained a vein that led to the heart

Oral Traditions in Prose and Literature

Jokes

Riddles

Stories

Rhymes

Tall tales

Ghost stories

Stories of tragic events

Stories of local heroes

Creation stories

Oral Traditions in Proverbs and Adages

A watched pot never boils

If anything can go wrong, it will go wrong

Actions speak louder than words

Don't bite the hand that feeds you

Necessity is the mother of invention

Don't judge a book by its cover

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

The grass is always greener on the other side of the hill

A penny saved is a penny earnem

If it ain't broke, don't fix it

Good things come to those who wait

Oral Traditions in Legends

Atlantis

Big Foot

Camelot

Chupacabra

El Dorado

Fountain of Youth

Griffins

Hercules

Johnny Appleseed

The Loch Ness monster

Medusa

Pegasus

Robin Hood

Shangri-La

The Bermuda Triangle

William Tell

Yeti, or the Abominable Snowman

Oral Traditions in Songs

Alphabet Song

Auld Lang Syne

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow

Found a Peanut Happy Birthday

Frere Jacques

Jack and Jill

London Bridge

Mary Had A Little Lamb

Mulberry Bush

Ninety Nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall

On Top of Spaghetti

Ring Around A Rosy

Ten Little Indians

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

Oral Traditions in Dances

Hawaiian hula

Polkas

Square dancing

Waltz

Two step

Western line dancing

Round dances of Native Americans

Break dancing

Flamenco

Greek circle dances

As you can see, there are all kinds of different oral traditions expressed in different ways.

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Oral tradition is information passed down through the generations by word of mouth that is not written down. This includes historical and cultural traditions, literature and law.