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What Is Empathy?

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Teaching Empathy in Healthcare

Abstract

We propose empathy to be the process of relating to another in a mode that facilitates the creative elaboration of mutual understanding and recognition. The empathic mode thus presupposes both commonality and difference as it seeks the development of a common language—a shared network of meanings, allowing one to see beyond pre-existing commonalities and create new ones. In this chapter, we elaborate this understanding of the nature of empathy to contextualize the bio-behavioral underpinnings of commonality and the innate capacities we have for bridging difference. Finally, we discuss barriers to and breakdowns of the empathic mode such as cultural difference, dehumanization, and stigma.

This chapter was contributed to by Zimri S. Yaseen in his personal capacity. The opinions expressed therein are the authors’ own and do not reflect the views of the Food and Drug Administration, the Department of Health and Human Services, or the United States government.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, USA

    Zimri S. Yaseen

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Adriana E. Foster

Authors
  1. Zimri S. Yaseen
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  2. Adriana E. Foster
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Correspondence to Zimri S. Yaseen .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA

    Adriana E. Foster

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, USA

    Zimri S. Yaseen

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Yaseen, Z.S., Foster, A.E. (2019). What Is Empathy?. In: Foster, A.E., Yaseen, Z.S. (eds) Teaching Empathy in Healthcare. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-29876-0_1

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