Empathy From a Worker\'s Perspective,

Empathy

From a worker's perspective, empathy consists of being able to "attend to the environment" of the work situation and the various features and actions of this environment (Deakin 2011). This involves a great deal of attempting to understand and even to experience the emotions and attitudes of another, which is often the most common understanding of the term "empathy" and is of immense importance in social work, specifically (Cournoyer 2008). This means more than simply identifying with a person or persons, however, and must also include an appreciation of the external circumstances of a given meeting and its impact on feelings and attitudes, an assessment of the capability and right to intervene in another's feelings and the willingness of this individual to experience such an intervention, and a host of other factors affecting the tenor of a situation (Deakin 2011).

One of the key dangers in developing and displaying empathy is the belief that there is a point where empathy is sufficient or "good enough," as holding this belief has a tendency to diminish the actual capability for empathy (Hepworth et al. 2010). Empathy must be practiced as an ongoing learning and development process, and no worker or other individual should ever make the assumption that their empathic skills have given them an adequate and certain knowledge of another individual's attitudes and feelings -- this is another danger in thinking that one's empathic knowledge and discovery is ever somehow complete (Hepworth et al. 2010). Empathy necessarily comes from a place of openness and a striving to understand, especially in initial stages, and a "completion" of empathy growth negates this openness (Deakin 2011).

Empathy is not at all the same as liking, although the two can definitely be related (Zebrowski 2007). While empathy requires a true understanding and appreciation of how someone feels and potentially the ability to experience the same emotions oneself, it does not require that these attitudes and emotions be agreed upon as the proper reaction for a given situation, or feelings/attitudes that the worker would normally possess or entertain (Deakin 2011). Empathy can be a predictor of liking, especially in multicultural situations -- research has shown that empathy is usually a precursor to liking between individuals of different ethnic or cultural backgrounds -- but empathy and liking are not actually correlated in most general circumstances and workplace settings (Zebrowski 2007).