Welcome to Gaia! ::

Reply The Coven
Empathy

Quick Reply

Enter both words below, separated by a space:

Can't read the text? Click here

Submit

Wiccan_Boy _1990

PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:51 am


Is it possible to scence peoples emotions? If it is possible how can you be able to strengthen it so you can do it better because i want to learn how to.
PostPosted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 9:12 am


Empathy is a learned skill and it can be learned by anyone. It's about being able to read facial expressions, body language, and knowing a fair bit of psychology to top it off. The only way to strengthen it is to practice and read up on some decent psychology. You can get books about body language. Read them.

Starlock


Fey Darkwater

PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 5:59 am


While Starlock is right, there are also other things you can do to help your precision. Try doing a bit of "people watching". It's simple. Simply just evesdrop, and watch how people react to another person's comment. It'll help you in the end, or it may help you to get your a** beat...so be discreat.

(WOW, my spelling sucks.)
PostPosted: Thu Aug 24, 2006 7:45 pm


Empathy is not a learned skill
here is the actual meaning to it:
Empathy is one's ability to recognize and understand the emotion of another. As the states of mind, beliefs, and desires of others are intertwined with their emotions, one with empathy for another may often be able to more effectively divine another's modes of thought and mood. Empathy is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes", or experiencing the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself, a sort of emotional resonance.

Rain1084


Neko_Bast

Tricky Cat

19,600 Points
  • Bookworm 100
  • Cat Fancier 100
  • Forum Regular 100
PostPosted: Mon Aug 28, 2006 11:32 am


there are differences between empathy and being an empath. Empathy is, as others have said, the ability to read peoples body language and faces. Being an empath is actually felling anothers emotions, sometimes even when they are not in the same room.
PostPosted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 7:09 am


BlizzardRaine
Empathy is not a learned skill
here is the actual meaning to it:
Empathy is one's ability to recognize and understand the emotion of another. As the states of mind, beliefs, and desires of others are intertwined with their emotions, one with empathy for another may often be able to more effectively divine another's modes of thought and mood. Empathy is often characterized as the ability to "put oneself into another's shoes", or experiencing the outlook or emotions of another being within oneself, a sort of emotional resonance.


BlizzardRaine is actually correct. Empathy is NOT a learned skill. But it is an ability. My own main power is Empathy. While it can be honed as a skill could, true empathy is actually in the person and their simple natural ability to feel others emotions. I am able to feel others emotions simply by standing near them. I dont have to look at them to automatically feel what they are feeling. This includes the good and the bad. I have managed to channel everything from a person's most happy feelings..which would rate Adult Only....^_^;; to a persons mot depressed feelings, such as becoming suicidal and wanting nothing more than to be dead.
Empathy can often be characterized by the things mentioned above, but the true essence of empathy is as a power...not a skill

PrincessSophia

Precious Nerd

6,800 Points
  • Hygienic 200
  • Brandisher 100
  • Team Jacob 100

Starlock

PostPosted: Tue Aug 29, 2006 9:56 am


PrincessSophia


BlizzardRaine is actually correct. Empathy is NOT a learned skill. But it is an ability. My own main power is Empathy. While it can be honed as a skill could, true empathy is actually in the person and their simple natural ability to feel others emotions. I am able to feel others emotions simply by standing near them. I dont have to look at them to automatically feel what they are feeling. This includes the good and the bad. I have managed to channel everything from a person's most happy feelings..which would rate Adult Only....^_^;; to a persons mot depressed feelings, such as becoming suicidal and wanting nothing more than to be dead.
Empathy can often be characterized by the things mentioned above, but the true essence of empathy is as a power...not a skill


Seems like there's some confusion between EMPATH and EMPATHY. What you're describing is the status of being an EMPATH which is borderline "supernatural" ...though does have valid psychological explanations, hence the quote marks. Speaking strictly of EMPATHY (ie, as defined earlier, the ability read body language as well as "putting yourself in the other person's shoes") it is without question a learned skill according to the science of psychology. Children are not born knowing how to infer emotion from body language or put themselves into another's perspetive. These things are learned and culturalized.

As for EMPATHS I've never seen anything to suggest that what is going on is anything other than finely honed empathic responses and judgemental heuristics. It's possible that there's something else going on, but it is worrisome if the first response to something is "I have a special supernatural power that defys explanation!" instead of "I should investigate this and see if I can figure out what is causing it!" Not trying to be overly-critical of anyone personally here, but it's been my experience that most people are woefully ignorant of basic psychology.

If they weren't, they'd understand that intuitive responses (like empaths/empathy) likely boil down to judgemental heuristics and schemas; it's a thing that's been measured and studied experimentally. I probably should explain these concepts thoroughly, but I won't bore you with the details unless you ask. At risk of oversimplification, we have a cognitive structuring system alongside some automated responses that can make predictive and evaluative judgements. Such judgements are used in empathic responses often at a nonconscious level, hence the "intuitive" nature of the response. To read a bit on judgemental heuristics, go HERE) and for schemas (as much as I hate using Wikipedia for things like this, it is a decent overview) go HERE
PostPosted: Tue Sep 19, 2006 6:47 pm


you know...if that wasnt filled with your "logic" id call that downright insulting... considering ive finally got my empathy back after going into a deep depression.....i got out of it and now i can sense emotion from across rooms again without even knowing the person. sweatdrop

PrincessSophia

Precious Nerd

6,800 Points
  • Hygienic 200
  • Brandisher 100
  • Team Jacob 100

Starlock

PostPosted: Thu Sep 21, 2006 9:38 am


PrincessSophia
you know...if that wasnt filled with your "logic" id call that downright insulting... considering ive finally got my empathy back after going into a deep depression.....i got out of it and now i can sense emotion from across rooms again without even knowing the person. sweatdrop


This isn't MY logic, this is out of the pages of the discipline of psychology. It does not state there is nothing to the phenomena (ie, empathy doesn't exist); what it provides is a non-magical explanation for the phenomena. Empathy can be explained adequately by modern psychology. You don't have to know the person to use herustics; heuristics are used especially in unfamiliar sittuations where there is little else to go on but past experiences and quick intuitive judgements.

But NOTE, however, that just because there IS an explanation in modern psychology does NOT mean there it is the most correct or ONLY correct explanation. A number of magical-thinking types, though, don't stop and really consider the mundane explanations before attributing supernatural or magical ones. I don't mean to play down the ability, but it is important to seriously consider what is really going on. If the prospect of empathy being wholely explainable by 'mundane' science bothers you, why does it bother you? In my mind, just because something has a scientific explanation doesn't in any way devalue the experience or neccesarily preclude magical paralells.
PostPosted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 1:02 pm


my main power is empathy as well...

champagne pinky


Dark Inu Fan

Liberal Shapeshifter

13,615 Points
  • Demonic Associate 100
  • Dragon Master 50
  • Friend of the Goat 100
PostPosted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 5:56 pm


both sides of my family are psychic and I'm empathetic. a funny thing is, I can predict someone getting hurt. I can't tell when or who, but I can tell what place the body gets hurt though! I predicted a nasty scar over my sister's eye about half a year before it happened! weird, huh?

I believe that this is both learned (hypersensitivity) and an inherited trait that can be honed to be used just like an athlete can lern to throw a ball the best way. yeah, anyone can throw a ball, but it isn't nessissarily guarenteed to land where they aimed it! everyone can be empathetic to a point, it just takes a certain type of person to recognise and acknowledge this ability.
PostPosted: Thu Dec 21, 2006 4:04 pm


Empathy...
Curse or blessing...
Once i can answer that I'll answer your question

hellflame3000


Rain1084

PostPosted: Tue Jan 02, 2007 2:47 pm


I found out that Empathy is a genetic thing(ie. if your mother had empathy then you as the child would have it)
PostPosted: Wed Mar 07, 2007 9:34 pm


I have been told by a few people that I am an empath. I don't try to be. It just happens.

Luck-In-Spades
Vice Captain

Reply
The Coven

 
Manage Your Items
Other Stuff
Get GCash
Offers
Get Items
More Items
Where Everyone Hangs Out
Other Community Areas
Virtual Spaces
Fun Stuff
Gaia's Games
Mini-Games
Play with GCash
Play with Platinum