affective empathy definition
Empathy is a complex psychological phenomenon; today there are as many researchers acknowledging discrepancies in the use of the term, as there are inconsistent definitions. Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Schizophrenia is characterized by impaired affective empathy, as well as severe cognitive and empathy impairments as measured by the Empathy Quotient (EQ). These empathy impairments are also associated with impairments in social cognitive tasks. Empathy can be divided into two major components: 1  Affective empathy, also called emotional empathy: the capacity to respond with an appropriate emotion to another's mental states. 2  Our ability to empathize emotionally is supposed to be based on emotional contagion: being affected by another's emotional or arousal state. Whilst empathy (for another individual’s suffering or sorrow) may indeed underlie a number of positive, prosocial phenomena, such as compassion and altruism, there are reasons to suspect it may have a hand in certain negative outcomes as well. 1 Affective empathy, also called emotional empathy: the capacity to respond with an appropriate emotion to another's mental states. 2  Our ability to empathize emotionally is supposed to be based on emotional contagion: being affected by another's emotional or arousal state. Empathy can be divided into two major components: 1  Affective empathy, also called emotional empathy: the capacity to respond with an appropriate emotion to another's mental states. 2  Cognitive empathy: the capacity to understand another's perspective or mental state. As a complex psychological phenomenon, empathy does not exist as an isolated positive construct; its expression is moderated by a host of other variables. We want doctors to be (cognitively) empathic, but regulate their feelings in order to provide objective judgement and professional care. As these definitions illustrate, the term empathy has been used to refer to two related human abilities: mental perspective taking (cognitive empathy, CE) and the vicarious sharing of emotion (emotional empathy, EE). It is essential, however, that we take a step back from all the hype. In order to make our research meaningful, empathy is a concept that – to paraphrase the psychologist Paul Ekman – requires sharpening, rather than flattening. As the word carries a multitude of meanings, it is necessary for researchers to define precisely what they mean by “empathy” in advance of studying it.
The capacity to respond with an appropriate emotion to another's mental states.