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Empathy


Empathy is quite a complex concept generally understood to mean an identification with, and understanding of another’s situation, feelings or motives – imagining what it is like to experience them. Empathy can be experienced as an emotional response, for example, sympathetically sensing what someone else is feeling, sharing feelings with others, or having the desire to help others, etc.  Empathy may also relate to the capacity to identify with what someone else is thinking, to understand another person’s point of view, and /or taking the same perspective and sharing the same motives.

 It is important to remember that an apparent lack of empathy may mask an inability to express empathy to others as opposed to difficulty feeling empathy internally.   There are certain disabilities on the autistic spectrum and amongst mental health difficulties where a sense of impaired empathy may feature as characteristic in some circumstances.

Empathy, which leads to the building of trust, can create a platform for effective understanding, communication and relationships. The ability to empathise is an important skill for students to develop in order to progress successfully through their programme of study and to engage with their chosen career. Being able to understand, and also to step back and achieve a detachment from one's own emotions is essential for building effective and constructive relationships. Empathy is essential for:
  • developing ideas and solutions;
  • solving problems;
  • effective communication;
  • avoiding or diffusing conflict.
Building trust requires:
  • establishing rapport with people to develop discussions and argument;
  • listening to and understanding someone without necessarily agreeing with them;
  • understanding how someone feels and/or  what they want to achieve;
  • working collaboratively.
Active listening requires:
  • a genuine engagement with others;
  • letting others speak;
  • not 'jumping in' and offering opinions when not appropriate.
Although most people depend on empathy in the following employability skills, this does not mean that people who have difficulty empathising cannot possess these skills; rather, they may need reasonable adjustments to practice to enable them to develop or evidence the skills. 

Please click on the links below for a generic description of each employability skill that may be affected by limited empathy.

Click below to read about the possible effects of limited empathy on the specified skills as well as adjustments to practice/inclusive strategies.




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University of Worcester

Dr Val Chapman (NTF)
Principal Investigator
Director, Centre for Inclusive Learning Support
Email: v.chapman@worc.ac.uk		 University of Plymouth

Judith Waterfield (NTF)
Head of Disability ASSIST Services
Email: j.waterfield@plymouth.ac.uk
University of Gloucester

Dr Phil Gravestock (NTF)
Head of Learning Enhancement and Technology Support
Email: pgravestock@glos.ac.uk