Empathy

Definition

Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings, thoughts, and experiences of another person without necessarily experiencing them firsthand.

Related terms

Compassion: Compassion involves feeling empathy towards someone's suffering and taking action to alleviate it.

Perspective-taking: Perspective-taking is actively imagining oneself in another person's situation in order to better understand their point of view.

Emotional intelligence: Emotional intelligence refers to the ability to recognize, understand, manage, and express one's own emotions as well as perceive and respond empathetically to others' emotions.