Example:
A man walked into a bar.
Then he walked into the restroom.
Then he screamed.
Why did he scream?
2007-06-21 13:03:07 · 25 answers · asked by Uncle Wayne 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Dear "D" - You said, "Empathy is about recognizing, understanding and knowing the feelings of another." - I rest my case.
2007-06-21 13:09:51 · update #1
Thanks for that definition "NH" -- "Empathy does not mean perfect understanding, but instead means putting yourself into the other's shoes as well as possible in the moment"
Well, why did he scream?
2007-06-21 13:14:22 · update #2
Thanks "sublime" - Empathy is commonly defined as one's ability to recognize, perceive and directly feel the emotion of another through similar experience.
So why did he scream?
2007-06-21 13:16:07 · update #3
Thanks James, -- empathetic is taking someones burden and applying as if it were yours.
2007-06-21 13:17:06 · update #4
He fell and broke his leg?
Dead body to greet him?
Got his junk caught in his zipper?
Dead skunk?
Crocodile in potty?
Spider crawling on his arm?
Seriously scary person pointing a gun at him?
2007-06-21 13:06:30 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋
Empathy is commonly defined as one's ability to recognize, perceive and directly feel the emotion of another through similar experience.
Sympathy is an emotional affinity in which whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other, and its synonym is pity.
So no, for a complette stranger that you do not know WHY they are screaming, you could not feel empathy.
You can however feel sympathy, as you realise they are distressed and this could in theory possibly upset you.
another example is watching the news. A family has been murdered. you can sympathise for the family, but unless you have experienced something similar, you cannot empathise with them.
2007-06-21 20:11:50 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
That's not empathy, but alarm and curiosity.
Empathy would be if a man walked into a bar, sat alone at a table, started crying. Would you go up to him and try to be understanding?
A child is in a store and knocks down a display. How do you feel toward the child and his or her mother? Do you understand and feel the fear in the child? the embarrassment of the mother?
Empathy is about recognizing, understanding and knowing the feeligns of another.
2007-06-21 20:07:49 · answer #3 · answered by Deirdre H 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Perhaps it was as Oscar Wilde said in his last words as he lay on his death bed:
"Either this wallpaper has to go, or I will."
Not enough information is supplied by the premise. Empathy does not mean perfect understanding, but instead means putting yourself into the other's shoes as well as possible in the moment. I don't think that anyone's empathy can be judged by its accuracy but rather by it's commitment to IMPROVING its accuracy. It is a process of discovery, not a state of being.
2007-06-21 20:05:44 · answer #4 · answered by NHBaritone 7 · 2⤊ 2⤋
Welll, bar restrooms are pretty nasty...but maybe he found his girlfriend in there with someone else, or hurt himself, or didn't drink his prune juice? I have too much empathy for strangers, that's why I attract bums like a magnet!
2007-06-21 20:16:36 · answer #5 · answered by keri gee 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your example has nothing to do with empathy--maybe curiosity.
If being empathetic is taking someones burden and applying as if it were yours.
I flunk this one
2007-06-21 20:15:24 · answer #6 · answered by j.wisdom 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's not empathy, that's concern. Who knows why he screamed. I'm not going in the men's restroom to find out.
2007-06-21 20:05:24 · answer #7 · answered by Soul Shaper 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Sixteen years ago when coming home from Ft Wainwright, Alaska to be with my dad after his heart transplant, we stopped in downtown Chicago for three hours. I had over $1500 on me, and I must've fed the same homeless man and wife three times in three hours. I sat there with them drinking my coffee and smoking my cigarettes, and listening to their story. I had to excuse myself while I went to the bathroom to cry because I used to be them, and I knew what they're going through. I gave them $100 dollars and left. They were still eating and waving to me as the bus turned the corner and headed for the inter-state.
2007-06-21 20:13:32 · answer #8 · answered by RIFF 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That's not empathy, that's curiosity.
I feel empathy when I read in the paper of someone's sufferin or misfortune.
2007-06-21 20:10:44 · answer #9 · answered by Misty 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Hmmm, well, I could have sympathy, but empathy is when you share the experience. And, I'm not sure I've shared that experience, nor am I sure what he found.
2007-06-21 20:10:16 · answer #10 · answered by Contemplative Monkey 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
yes, empathy if I understand it correctly has to do with my ability to relate with the person and the situation or circumstances they are in. It has to do with what I've been through and the condition of my heart more than the other person.
2007-06-21 20:05:17 · answer #11 · answered by small group guy 2 · 2⤊ 2⤋