“Titanic”, “Hachiko”, “Forrest Gump”, “The Green Mile”, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas”, “The Notebook”... Films that became masterpieces. All these stories can touch to the core and even bring tears. Viewers are ready to cry and suffer because of the bitter fate or death of their favorite character. At the same time, they are absolutely aware that everything that happened on the screen is fictitious and does not specifically concern them. But the involvement still remains. This is empathy - the process of experiencing other people's emotions as one's own. A quality close to sympathy and empathy, but still significantly different from them.
What it is?
The generally accepted definition of empathy in psychology is: conscious empathy for the emotions of others while maintaining a sense of the external source of this emotional impulse. To explain in simple words, this is a person’s ability to feel the same as another: to sincerely rejoice with him (the mood improves, you want to jump to the ceiling with happiness and sing, the smile does not leave your face) or to grieve (the mood drops, there is a desire to cry, it gets bad). But at the same time, he does not forget for a minute that the source of such strong emotions does not concern him in any way, that these are not his personal experiences, but a completely different person.
This ability is explained not only by internal qualities. Yes, most often it is characteristic of those people who have been taught empathy and kindness since childhood. Often it is congenital. But these are not the only factors that determine it. Physiology is also involved here. In particular, the type of nervous system. Sensitive, vulnerable, impressionable natures quickly and emotionally react to the experiences of those around them.
Also to blame for this are the so-called mirror neurons of the brain, which were discovered in 1990 by Italian scientists Rizzolatti and Gallese. They reflect the state and behavior of other creatures.
So empathy is fundamentally an emotional and physiological process at the same time. As a psychological property, it involves the reflection of almost any other person’s emotion. From a physiological point of view, it manifests itself in the form of active facial expressions, gestures, tears, increased blood pressure, tachycardia, hyperhidrosis, limb tremor, etc.
Test to determine the level of empathy (methodology by I. M. YUSUPOV)
This test is useful for testing candidates for many professions that involve communicating with other people. For example, sales managers, HR managers, sales consultants, telephone dispatchers, medical workers and teachers.
At the same time, I think it is important to remind you that the amount of time for assessment and assessment stages when recruiting personnel should be moderate and not excessive. And this already depends on the level of competence and experience of your Recruitment Manager.
The test is also applicable when conducting an Assessment Center in your companies. Dear customers and colleagues, good luck to you in accurately assessing your candidates and employees!
Instructions
We invite you to evaluate several statements. Your answers will not be judged as good or bad, so please be open. You don't have to think about the statements for too long. The reliable answers are the ones that come to mind first. After reading the statement in the list of questions, in accordance with its number, mark your opinion in the answer form under one of six gradations: “I don’t know”, “never or not”, “sometimes”, “often”, “almost always”, “always” or yes". After filling out the form, multiply the number of answers in each column by the corresponding score. For example, if you answered “often” five times, then your total score in this column is 15. Count the points in each column and add them up to get your total empathy score. None of the statements can be omitted.
A list of questions
1. I like travel books more than books from the “Lives of Remarkable People” series. 2. Adult children are annoyed by the care of their elders. 3. I like to think about the reasons for other people's successes and failures. 4. Among all the music programs, I prefer those that mostly feature modern music. 5. Excessive irritability and unfair reproaches of the patient must be tolerated, even if they continue for years. 6. You can help a sick person even with a word. 7. Strangers should not interfere in a conflict between two people. 8. Old people, as a rule, are touchy for no reason. 9. When I listened to a sad story as a child, tears welled up in my eyes. 10. My parents' irritation affects my mood. 11. I am indifferent to criticism addressed to me. 12. I like looking at portraits more than landscape paintings. 13. I always forgave my parents everything, even if they were wrong. 14. If a horse pulls poorly, it needs to be whipped. 15. When I read about dramatic events in people's lives, I feel as if this is happening to me. 16. Parents treat their children fairly. 17. When I see teenagers or adults arguing, I intervene. 18. I don't pay attention to my parents' bad mood. 19. I spend a long time observing the behavior of birds and animals, putting off other things. 20. Movies and books can only bring tears to frivolous people. 21. I like to observe the facial expressions and behavior of strangers. 22. As a child, I brought home stray dogs and cats. 23. All people are unreasonably angry. 24. Looking at a stranger, I want to guess how his life will turn out. 25. When I see a crippled animal, I try to help it with something. 26. As a child, younger people followed me on my heels. 27. A person will feel better if you listen carefully to his complaints. 28. Having seen a street incident, I try not to be among the witnesses. 29. The younger ones like it when I offer them my idea, business or entertainment. 30. People exaggerate the ability of animals to sense the mood of their owner. 31. A person must get out of difficult conflict situations on his own. 32. If a child cries, there are reasons for it. 33. Young people should always satisfy any requests and eccentricities of old people. 34. I wanted to figure out why some of my colleagues are sometimes thoughtful. 35. Stray domestic animals should be destroyed. 36. If my friends start discussing their personal problems with me, I switch the conversation to another topic.
The answer form consists of question numbers (horizontal rows) and columns with answer options (don’t know - 0 points, never or not - 1 point, sometimes - 2 points, often - 3 points, almost always - 4 points, always or Yes - 5 points Processing of results
Before calculating your results, check the degree of frankness of the answers. Didn’t they answer “I don’t know” to some of the statements numbered: 3, 9, 11, 13, 28, 36, and also didn’t you mark points 11, 13,15, 27 with the answers “yes, always”? If so, then you probably haven't been honest with yourself. The test results can be trusted if no more than three insincere answers are given for all the listed statements; if there are four, you should already doubt their reliability, and if there are five, you can consider that the work was done in vain.
Now add up all the points assigned to the answers to items: 2, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15, 16, 19, 21,22, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29 and 32. Correlate the result with the scale development of empathy tendencies.
Very high level of empathy - from 82 to 90 points.
Humans have painfully developed empathy. In communication, he subtly reacts to the mood of his interlocutor, is highly sensitive, and vulnerable. He may suffer at the sight of a crippled animal or feel uneasy at the occasional cold greeting from his boss. Often he experiences a guilt complex, fearing to cause trouble to people; not only with a word, but even with a glance, he is afraid to offend them. Concern for his family and friends does not leave him. Heightened impressionability sometimes prevents him from falling asleep for a long time. Being upset, he needs emotional support from others. A person with a very high level of empathy is close to neurotic breakdowns. He should take care of his mental health.
High level of empathy - from 63 to 81 points.
A person is sensitive to the needs and problems of others, generous, and able to forgive them a lot. Treats people with genuine interest. Emotionally responsive, sociable, quickly establishes contacts and finds a common language with others. As a rule, he tries to avoid conflicts and find compromise solutions. Those around him appreciate him for his sincerity. He tolerates criticism well. In assessing events, he trusts his feelings and intuition more than analytical conclusions. Prefers to work with people rather than alone. Constantly needs social approval for his actions. With all the listed qualities, he is not always careful in precise and painstaking work.
The normal level of empathy is from 37 to 62 points.
This level is typical for most people. Those around him cannot call such a person thick-skinned, but at the same time he is not one of the particularly sensitive people. In interpersonal relationships, one is more inclined to judge others by their actions than to trust one’s personal impressions. He is not alien to emotional manifestations, but for the most part they are under self-control. In communication, such a person is attentive, tries to understand more than what is said in words, but with an excessive outpouring of feelings, he loses patience.
Prefers to delicately not express his point of view without being sure that it will be accepted. When reading works of fiction and watching films, he often follows the action rather than the experiences of the characters. It is difficult to predict the development of relationships between people, so it turns out that their actions are unexpected for him.
Low level of empathy - from 12 to 36 points.
With these quantitative values of manifestations of empathy, a person experiences difficulties in establishing contacts with people and feels uncomfortable in a noisy company. Emotional manifestations in the actions of others sometimes seem incomprehensible and meaningless to him.
More often he prefers solitary pursuits of a specific task rather than working with people. Such a person is a supporter of precise formulations and rational decisions. He probably has few friends, and he values those among them more for their clear mind and business qualities than for their sensitivity and responsiveness. Often people pay him back in kind: there are moments when such a person feels alienated, those around him do not favor him with their attention. But this can be corrected if he opens his “shell” and begins to look more closely at the behavior of his loved ones and perceive their needs as his own.
Very low level of empathy - 11 points or less.
Empathic tendencies of the individual are not developed. A person finds it difficult to be the first to start a conversation; he keeps to himself in the company of colleagues, fellow students, and classmates. Contacts with children and people who are much older than him are especially difficult for him. In interpersonal relationships, he often finds himself in an awkward position, and in many ways does not find mutual understanding with others. He loves thrills and prefers sports to art. Too self-centered in activities. Such a person can be very productive in individual work, but in interaction with others he does not always look in the best light. He is inclined to treat sentimental manifestations with irony. He tolerates criticism painfully, although he may not react violently to it. He needs emotional gymnastics.
We differentiate concepts
This is a fairly new term (it was introduced by E. Titchener in 1912), little studied and complex. Therefore, it is often confused with other related concepts.
Sympathy
What is the difference between sympathy and empathy? Let's start with the fact that sympathy is a stable emotional predisposition towards someone. You can feel it towards a colleague, neighbor, distant relative. This means that you like the person, you understand him, you find something in common, and you enjoy communicating with him.
Empathy is not stable. It can arise out of nowhere, completely unexpectedly. For example, we heard a pitiful story on the radio and burst into tears because we felt sorry for its main character. We saw a young man without legs in a wheelchair in the park - we got emotional, wanted to know the details of his fate and help, they came up and started talking, feeling his pain deep in their souls. But this does not mean that you like them, you do not compare them with yourself and are unlikely to be ready to continue communication in the future.
Sympathy
What is the difference between empathy and sympathy? The latter involves an expression of concern and care, a desire to help. But this does not mean at all that the sympathizer will experience the same emotions as the object of his worries. He will say words of support, provide all possible assistance, but nothing more.
To better understand the differences between these concepts, imagine the following situation. Someone fell into a deep hole and cannot get out. Sympathy is when a person passing by will sit on the edge and talk to the fallen person, maintaining his morale and spirit. A sympathizer will offer him to throw food there or go for help. And the empath will jump into his hole and share his fate with him.
Signs of an Empath
Empaths are usually easy to spot because the manifestation of this ability is quite vivid. Their characteristic features:
- high sensitivity to the emotions and experiences of other people;
- intuition: without even asking what happened, they guess about it;
- selflessness, compassion;
- the ability to sincerely forgive;
- curiosity;
- absent-mindedness and daydreaming;
- creativity: according to statistics, there are more empaths among artists, writers, musicians and designers than among accountants, lawyers and engineers;
- love of animals and nature;
- impatience with violence, cruelty, evil, injustice;
- love of freedom.
How does empathy manifest itself in communication? People with this ability:
- provide moral support without even asking what happened;
- do not know how to say “no”;
- sincere, frank and honest;
- are “vests” for the rest;
- know how to listen;
- they rarely open their inner world to anyone;
- cannot stand the company of two-faced and cruel people;
- put the interests of others above their own;
- will never leave you in trouble;
- true friends and spouses.
The problem is that if you show empathy too often, you will eventually burn out. Moral exhaustion leads to depression and conscious, voluntary seclusion.
Types of empathy
- emotional - imitation of the behavior of another person, projection of his motor and affective reactions;
- cognitive - empathy with the inclusion of intellectual processes (comparison, analysis, analogies, etc.);
- predicative - the ability to predict the affective reactions and behavior of another in certain situations.
Depending on the degree and brightness of the manifestation, there are also:
- increased - maximum level of empathy and involvement;
- average;
- understated;
- low.
What is the highest form of empathy? Empathy is feeling the same emotions that another person experiences through identification with him. Some experts also include empathy here - a responsive attitude to the experiences of others. But most people differentiate between these concepts.
Pros and cons of this quality
Most people believe that understanding emotions and the ability to empathize are a big plus. After all, this means the presence of mercy, kindness and other high moral qualities. However, psychologists do not share this opinion and cannot say unequivocally whether such susceptibility has a good or bad effect on the person himself.
Pros:
- developed intuition, which allows you to avoid bad people and choose the right path in life;
- the ability to establish good relationships with literally everyone;
- universal love;
- rich inner world;
- high spirituality;
- creativity abilities;
- high level of intelligence;
- lack of resentment.
Minuses:
- inability to control emotions associated with other people's experiences;
- dependence of mood on others;
- risk of emotional burnout;
- financial problems (empaths give out money left and right to those who need it);
- closedness in oneself, inability to share one’s personal experiences, mental loneliness.
To those around them, empaths are worth their weight in gold. But they themselves often suffer from their strong and vivid emotions.
If you are saddened by the suffering of other people, then you are probably an empath.
Unnecessary worries
Anything that is excessive can cause stress for empaths: too many people, too much noise, too much to do, strong smells, unpleasant sensations, and so on.
Stress occurs due to sensory overload that the empath’s body cannot cope with.
Diagnostics
To identify the presence and level of this ability, psychological diagnostics are carried out. The most popular methods are testing and empathy mapping.
Boyko's empathy test
Read the statements and put a plus or minus next to each.
Interpretation:
Give 1 point for each letter. See how much you scored for each of them. This means that some channels are well developed, while others are not very well developed or are completely absent.
Calculate the total number of points and determine the level:
- more than 30 points – high level of empathy;
- 22-29 - average;
- 15-21 - understated;
- less than 14 - very low.
Mehrabian Emotional Empathy Questionnaire
The task is the same as for the previous test.
Calculate your points:
You can take the tests yourself. They are often used to diagnose this ability in an adult. Only a psychologist works with the card, and it is often used to study the child’s psyche. It consists of 4 sectors: “speaks”, “thinks”, “does”, “feels”. A specific situation is specified, and the client fills out these fields and how he will react to it. Based on what is written, the specialist draws a conclusion.
Determination methods
Tests used to diagnose social empathy are available to anyone interested in developing the level of their own ability to empathize. The method for determining the degree of empathy is almost identical everywhere - it is a list of questions with multiple answer options, from which you need to choose the one that is closest to you. The tests can be used in combination - by answering several, you can maximally evaluate yourself in terms of your ability to sympathize and empathize with people .
- Test I.M. Yusupova
Test by psychologist from Kazan I.M. Yusupov is the most common express method for determining empathy. The essence of the method is the subjective assessment of several statements. At first glance, they seem far from the topic of empathy and emotional involvement in the problems of others, however, the scientist created the test in such a way as to minimize the number of socially expected answers. They cannot be good or bad - the most important thing is to answer honestly and the first thing that comes to mind. The results are presented in a table, where each answer option is assigned its own score.
- Test V.V. Boyko
At first glance, this test seems simpler - the technique consists of an identical number of questions, and there are fewer answer options. The answering method consists of positive and negative assessment - “yes” or “no”. However, in the process of creating the methodology, V.V. Boyko was guided by the identification of several channels of empathy:
- Rational. The conscious focus of attention and thinking on another being, in the absence of logic and motivation of interest, attracts the very fact of the existence of the subject and its characteristics.
- Emotional. It is characterized by immersion in a person’s energy field when emotional resonance occurs.
- Intuitive. The ability to intuitively anticipate a partner’s behavior, to act without having enough information about him, relying on the subconscious.
According to V.V. Boyko, it is the methodology for assessing the level of development of these three parameters of empathy in the aggregate that can give an objective answer.
Why do you need to determine your level of empathy?
Tests by I.M. Yusupov and V.V. Boyko are the most common and effective methods today due to their simplicity and accessibility, including online. They answer the question, how much are we able to empathize with the experiences of another person? If the tests do not give the result that should be considered acceptable, then it is in our hands to change this.
Determining the level of empathy of a person is an important stage in working on oneself.
Emotional intelligence, which is so actively promoted and used in the business environment, is based on this concept. Our learning ability and broadening of our horizons also occur due to emotional involvement and its development. By experiencing the emotions of other beings as our own, we take a step forward as highly evolved beings, capable of transcending our own self.
