Spectrum of Empathy

 


Pity and Sympathy require little to no effort or understanding, while Empathy and Compassion require effort to understand, and engagement to produce positive change.

Pity is simply when you feel sorry for somebody else. You don’t like their unfortunate situation, and maybe you’ll even do something to rectify the situation, but mostly to make your own unpleasant feelings go away.

On the other end of the spectrum is compassion, the feeling where you relate the most to the people as independent actors, as opposed to objects.

"Actors" in this context means that we recognize that the people have their own purposes, wants, and needs, and that they are acting to satisfy what they want to accomplish, not what we think they ought to do or want.

Thus, we don't impose our priorities or preferences upon the people, which would be an act of objectifying them that's more characteristic of sympathy.

Compassion is a call to action derived from empathy — when our understanding of another’s thoughts or feelings give us the compulsion, duty, or desire to help change that person’s situation for the better.

Note: These are paragraphs collected from Nielsen-Norman Group website.

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