empathy

1. The ability to intellectually and emotionally sense the emotions, feelings, and reactions that another person is experiencing and to effectively communicate that understanding to the individual. Cf.:sympathy (3). 2. The anthropomorphization or humanizing of objects and the feeling of oneself as being in and part of them. [G. en (em), in, + pathos, feeling]

- generative e. the inner experience of sharing in and comprehending the momentary psychologic state of another person.

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em·pa·thy 'em-pə-thē n, pl -thies

1) the imaginative projection of a subjective state into an object so that the object appears to be infused with it

2) the action of understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another of either the past or present without having the feelings, thoughts, and experience fully communicated in an objectively explicit manner also the capacity for empathy

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n.

the ability to understand the thoughts and emotions of another person. In a psychotherapist empathy is often considered to be one of the necessary qualities enabling successful treatment. See alexithymia.

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em·pa·thy (emґpə-the) [em- + -pathy] intellectual and emotional awareness and understanding of another person's thoughts, feelings, and behavior, even those that are distressing and disturbing. Empathy emphasizes understanding, sympathy emphasizes sharing, of another person's feelings and experiences. empathic adj