Got empathy?

[Bay]

Simon Baron-Cohen says that "...empathy is about spontaneously and naturally tuning into the other person's thoughts and feelings, whatever these might be [...]There are two major elements to empathy. The first is the cognitive component: Understanding the others feelings and the ability to take their perspective [...] the second element to empathy is the affective component. This is an observer's appropriate emotional response to another person's emotional state." Empathy - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Empathy is a concept that I struggle with. I can see when another person is very happy or very angry, but I never feel as though I can perceive the emotions in between or outside of those two. I can, perhaps, tell that someone is experiencing an emotion but I rarely feel as though I know what it is without them telling me explicitly. Even then I often don't understand unless they tell me WHY they are feeling what they are feeling. However, I believe that I am a compassionate person. Is it possible that NTs can actually tell what others are feeling? It is a foreign concept to me.

What do people here on the forum think empathy is? Do you have it? Do you understand it?

 

[Gomendosi]

Bay, I think empathy is being able to determine the emotional status of someone and feel a little bit like that yourself in response so as to understand them better, I have gathered this as an idea from watching and reading a lot of Sci-Fi in which some people had a particular mental power and where referred to as Empaths.
Also, Star Trek: The Next Generation :lol:

I have no ability for empathy if I try to apply it; I mean, I can?t just look at a person and presume what mood they are in, I usually have to study both facial display and physical conduct for a while to even be close. Weirdly however, I can call myself a mood sponge because I have noticed that if a person is elated, depressed, loving, enraged or any other typically strong emotion, I will end up being that way as well over time just from exposure to them, so I always assumed I was just mimicking their behavior but I may also be duplicating their mood as well.

It could be empathy by accident maybe?

 

[Bay]

That is really interesting, Gomendosi! I, too, am like a mood sponge at times (though I never thought to call it that--I like it). I never considered that it might provide an empathy window, so to speak. It only seems to happen with people I know well or spend time around, so it probably isn't reliable as a whole. And it doesn't explain the "why," which I always seem to need before I can understand. If I am to use the feedback of people around me as a guide, apparently I miss the most "obvious" clues. I am both smart and clueless all in one package. I could use a Sherpa.