Empathy:

Empathy is understanding and sharing another’s feelings and seeing things from their perspective, even without that experience. It’s fundamental to human nature, crucial to social interaction, and part of moral development, altruism, intergroup relations, and inhibited aggressive behavior. Empathy is feeling sad when a friend tells you about a difficult time or understanding the joy a child experiences when receiving a gift. Children show empathy around two, with rudimentary empathy even earlier. Related concepts are sympathy (feeling sorry for someone), social intelligence (ability to connect, work together more effectively), and emotional intelligence (ability to recognize, understand, and manage one’s own and other’s emotions). Empathy-related deficits are traits of schizophrenia, autism, and psychopathy. Narcissists also lack empathy, struggling to understand or share the feelings of others (often viewing them as less important or inferior). Without adequate self–other distinction, sharing another person’s emotions can induce empathic personal distress, a self-focused aversive reaction that often leads to withdrawing from the situation. Conversely, the ability to show caring support for others is empathic concern. Also see: Situational, State, andEmpathic Personal Distress. Three main categories of empathy:

• Cognitive empathy or social-cognitive functioning: Understanding another person’s thoughts, beliefs, or actions. Also see Perspective-Taking or Theory of Mind
• Emotional empathy or social-affective functioning: Feeling what another person feels emotionally
• Compassionate empathy or empathic concern: Doing something about another’s distress. Examples are: listening to others, sharing personal stories, helping others when they need it most.