Definition Of Empathy And Sympathy

This article tries to explain the meaning of these words and helps you understand how to.

Definition of empathy and sympathy. It is a combination of two greek words em and pathos which means in and feeling respectively. Empathy is the ability to experience the feelings of another person. The husband and wife shared special sympathy. Empathy is a skilled response while sympathy is reactive responses which is why developing the skill of empathy is a more realistic goal for public services.

The word empathy has been recently added to the english vocabulary. Sympathy is the older of the two terms. Are you confused about the usage of the words empathy and sympathy. Sympathy to feel sympathy it means you are able to understand what the person is feeling.

What another person. It entered english in the mid 1500s with a very broad meaning of agreement or harmony in qualities between things or people since then the term has come to be used in a more specific way. Empathy means that you feel what a person is feeling. Sympathy definition origin and examples.

Both sympathy and empathy have roots in the greek term páthos meaning suffering feeling what is sympathy. It goes beyond sympathy which is caring and understanding for the suffering of others both words are used similarly and often interchangeably incorrectly so but differ subtly in their emotional meaning. Let s unpack this more to understand the difference between compassion sympathy and empathy. Empathy does include elements of sympathy and compassion but it also carries pertinent connotations that both sympathy and compassion lack.

Sympathy is the term refer towards understanding the pains sorrow and feelings of others and having a feeling of compassion for them. The use of the word empathy versus the use of the word sympathy has been a cause of mistake for several speakers of the language. Compared to sympathy which first appeared in english in the 16th century empathy is a relatively new coinage one originating from a relatively young science. Empathy is often confused with pity sympathy and compassion which are each reactions to the plight of others.

It refers to feeling oneself in someone else s situation i e. Compassion is the willingness to relieve the suffering of another. An animal reacting to his reaction would come under this definition.