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RUNNING HEAD: ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

Concept B Analysis on Empathy

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ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

Concept B Analysis on Empathy

As illustrated earlier in concept A analysis, empathy is a vital aspect that individuals should

possess. Most importantly, in the nursing field, nurses should show empathy to the patients

especially when delivering the healthcare services. In concept A, various elements of empathy

were analyzed including the unabridged definition of empathy, synonyms, and antonyms of

empathy, peers’ concept of empathy and the words related to empathy. This paper aims at giving

a concept B analysis on empathy. The focus of the analysis is identifying the uses of empathy in

the ordinary and scientific fields, giving an operational definition of empathy from the literature

search, providing characteristics of empathy and developing a working definition of empathy with

the vital attributes supported by the literature review.

Uses of empathy in Ordinary fields

Noticeable situations can drain individuals’ empathy for others. One of the ordinary

conditions that triggers one in showing empathy is seeing a stranger who suddenly gets ill and

starts swaying precariously over the street. Another situation is witnessing a person laden down

with packages and trying to open a door. In this case, most people who are willing to assist would

hold the door open for this individual with packages. Seeing potentially helpful people taking

advantages of the unprivileged is also a scenario that requires individuals to show the empathy

concept and take the necessary actions. indicates that psychologists have carried out analyses on

the possibilities of individuals helping those who are suffering and the likelihood of ignoring them.

There are personalities whose upbringing and genetics result in pathological lack of concern for

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

others. The analysis, however, does not focus on the outlined outliers. Instead, the primary focus

is on generally ethical individuals. Being in a hurry, positives of helping and challenges with

helping are some of the factors that influence the uses of empathy in the ordinary field. Moreover,

in the ordinary environment, individuals can utilize the empathy concept in viewing the world in

different dimensions. Empathy helps people in understanding other people’s feelings. Once the

understanding is enhanced, people can appreciate each other. In addition, empathy assists people

to communicate personal understanding towards ordinary issues and aim at achieving plausible

solutions. (Julia Williams and Theodores Stickley, 2010) page 30.

Uses of empathy in scientific fields

The phenomenon of empathy has been implemented in numerous scientific fields including

the social sciences, neuroscience, psychology and other earth sciences, such as human biology.

The concept of empathy is a growing subject in academic disciplines such as in nursing.

Individuals in the scientific fields illustrate empathy aspect due to the advantages that are

associated with its power. Empathy is an aspect that has been used by researchers to identify the

specific group of brain cells that respond after the aspect is expressed. Thus, empathy, as an

element, plays a fundamental responsibility in the mirroring of the neuron structure (Kay de Vries,

2000). The cells assist people in sharing other individuals’ situation, such as pain and suffering.

According to the scientific research, empathy is perceived to contain hyper-responsive mirror

neurons that make people resonate with other individuals’ feelings. New para Another issue that

is well-articulated in the scientific field is on the use of empathy, which triggers the brain and the

heart to generate the electromagnetic fields, thus enabling individuals in becoming sensitive to

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

other people’s issues. Expressing empathetic conditions influences dopamine sensitivity. In this

case, two classifications of individuals’ express empathetic elements in diverse ways and the

influences on their dopamine sensitivity are distinct. For instance, the introverted empaths

experience escalated sensitivity to dopamine while the extraverts tend to have a de-escalated

sensitivity. Thus, empathy is an essential aspect in all scientific fields and will continue to impact

the academic disciplines that are present in the learning institutions.

Operational definitions of empathy from the literature search

Different types of literature reviews have provided different definitions of empathy.

According to (Thompson, 2016), empathy is “the ability to share the feelings of others and is a

vital aspect of human social interaction.” The main idea provided by the authors is that empathy

is operational in several ways such that numerous paradigms have been established for assessing

the element. Empathizing with people boosts our understanding towards their perspectives and we

can appreciate the nature of individuals’ experiences through three various levels, which include

affective, sensory and cognitive level. Additionally, neurocognitive processes are applied in the

expression of empathy to yield a significant effect. Thomson measured this definition by using

Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) which was the tool of direct and response.

This included the direct posing of questions and getting immediate feedbacks from the affected

victims.

According to (Yatimer, 2008), empathy is a psychological construct, which describes not

only our ability to share the emotions of others but also to exert cognitive control and perspective

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

taking in our interactions. The construct that is highlighted in the definition is described to be

multifaceted and is composed of other primary elements, which include cognitive empathy and

affective empathy. Cognitive empathy seeks to predict and understand an individual’s mental state

via the use of cognitive processes. Affective empathy entails the experience of an emotional

response because of another person’s state. The Authors derived their definition from the research

they made using questionnaires, where they asked subjects about their experiences after they were

exposed to various situations.

Another operational definition of empathy is that empathy is the ability to experience as

well as share feelings of others and to respond with care to the distress in others (Ancel, 2006) The

article emphasizes that there are numerous definitions of empathy, but all the definitions share a

common attributes. The Author also highlights that empathy is being used in different fields such

as in philosophy and psychology. However, the operational definition of empathy is well illustrated

while studying the neuropsychological field. The aspect that has encouraged the systematic

neuropsychological studies of empathy in the contemporary world is the creation of human brain

imaging strategies. Through the discipline, the studies have noted by use of PET scans, for example

or other imaging, the brain regions that are active during the handling of multifaceted social stimuli

involved in the innovative types of empathic conducts witnessed in human beings.

Another elaborated definition of empathy is indicated by (Larkin, 2017)which is the ability

to appreciate the emotions and feelings of others with a minimal distinction between self and

others. Also the authors indicate empathy as one of the higher-order emotions that typically emerge

as the child comes to a greater awareness of the experience of others, during the second and third

years of life, and it arises in the context of someone’s emotional experience. The authors noted

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

that various psychological measures of heart rate and skin conduction of the affected subjects bring

out clearly how one feels for others who are having some technicalities.

(Hooker, 2015) gives the early theorists’ definition of empathy highlighting that empathy

is a primary affective unconscious experience in which observing someone’s physical appearance

led to an immediate and intuitive understanding of their thoughts and feelings. Additionally, the

authors have given the definition of empathy by social experts such as (Hojat, 2016) who stated

that empathy is taking on someone else’s emotional state as emotional contagion, a process through

which the experience of empathy could be achieved. He went further stating that the authors made

this definition valid since the made research through various techniques such as questionnaires and

question and answer method on the victims that had be affected or had experienced such situations.

Finally, according to (Julia Williams and Theodores Stickley, 2010) empathy is the

experiencing of an effective or sensory state like that shown by a perceived individual, where one

is aware as to whether the source of the state is oneself or another. In addition, empathy is

phenomenon characterizing our understanding and sharing of other’s feelings, which is vital to our

everyday communication and survival in a social environment. This was due to reliable reports

that were extracted from people who made research on empathy cases.

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

Antecedents to Empathy

Most evidences have been outlined in support for the utility of empathy in nursing. The importance

of empathy is related to the core aims and purposes in the nursing fields. The nurses’ empathic

attitude is important for it determines the nurses’ competence and diagnostic accuracy, though

there are enough claims that show the relationship between empathy, patients, outcomes and

clinical competence there are still many inconsistencies in the link. For instance, there are

controversial results between the correlation of empathy and nurses fatigue, anger and depression

but on the other hand Hochischild a researcher who analyzed antecedents to empathy, argued that,

empathy is the emotional interaction with patients which as a result, brings out nurses’ job

satisfaction. Pederson who is also a researcher on this, states that, this controversial results are

found because empirical research on empathy is dominated by relatively quantitative methods and

the topic of empathy has not been thoroughly explored. Although empathy is among the most

mentioned dimensions of patient care, there are still ambiguities associated with it.

Hi and Lo are groups who wrote retrospective accounts of early socialization, but they

differed on various dimensions which were relevant to their expressions and awareness effects. A

consistent pattern of sex difference on empathy were also found.

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

List of attributes that describe empathy

One of the characteristics of empathy is to understand another person’s feelings and

communicate the understanding of that person’s feelings. Ideally, when a child is born, the mother

is responsible for compensating for the loss of oneness by developing a primitive unity with the

baby. In this perspective, on the emotional basis, the mother incorporates the infant back into

herself. The mother excludes other interests and gives close attention to the child in a couple of

months of the begging of the baby’s life. Due to this closeness the mother gets an opportunity to

understand the baby’s feelings and reciprocate to them accordingly. For example, the mother is

able to know and understand when the baby is hungry and feed it.

Consequently, people feel with others because they are capable of feeling themselves into

others because they have, by their own attitude, aroused in themselves the attitude of the

individuals they are targeting to assist. Children need to understand and practice the role-taking

technique because in order to be able to mimic gestures and words from others. So, learning about

behavior from a parent or family member could be considered an antecedent to empathy. Role-

taking plays a fundamental role in de-escalating deficiencies in empathic ability that is caused by

primitive instincts for imitation. (Olson, 2001)

Another characteristic of empathy is that it acts as a therapeutic tool. In the nursing field,

empathizing refers to the process of sharing and experiencing the feelings of the patients. In this

perspective, the quality of sharing is determined rather than the degree of the feeling experienced.

For instance, in the healthcare sector, nurses express empathy to achieve an understanding of the

patients to allow them to deliver quality services. Empathy has another attribute in that it does not

contain some components such as the agreement, condolence, and pity. The expression of empathy

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

does not require assumptions such as the presence of a parallel between nurses’ feelings and the

patients’ feelings. Empathy focus on understanding not in overcoming anxiety (Hooker, 2015).

Additionally, empathy is described as preconscious and temporary.

A working definition of empathy with critical attributes

The definition of empathy according to my review is that, empathy is a working element

when based on its attributes. However, the strategies of evaluating empathy are not clearly known

and thus it is difficult to determine whether empathy escalates or de-escalates across medical

education. The essential idea behind the expression of empathy is that, the medical officials such

as the doctors, nurses, and surgeons are able to share the feelings and assist the patients where

necessary, through the aspect of human interaction.

Empathy is concerned about other people’s well-being. For instance, patients may not have

the required energy to deal with their situations and thus may require other parties to intervene in

their lives. The environment in which the patients are located is very challenging in overcoming

the chronic ailments. Empathy is anticipated by patients and is the duty of the clinicians to assist

them in recovering. The understanding of empathy is influenced by the actions taken. Ideally,

according to the broad definitions of empathy, there exists a relationship between empathetic

understanding and people’s judgments, presuppositions and actions.

Nurses and other medical staffs should boost their relationship with the patient by

comprehending the patient’s feelings and ideas. In this perspective, the interactivity of medical

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

officials and patients would escalate, and quality services would be delivered. Thus, empathy is a

critical aspect that positively influences health and mental status of individuals who utilize it

Conclusion

In conclusion, empathy is beneficial in human life for it creates empathic human

connections through verbal and non-verbal communications. This interconnection covers infants,

adolescents, adults, healthy and the sick. Empathy is also a major determinant of nurses’ diagnostic

skills, accuracy and competence. It has also helps people appreciate other people’s wellbeing and

make them feel part of the majority despite of their situations. Empathy puts other people’s

situations in our lives in that we put ourselves into their shoes, see what they are seeing and

experience what they are going through. This makes the subject diminish their situations and feel

comfortable. It is also very important for nurses to practice empathy for it determines patients’

attendance to treatment and their satisfaction. These nurses’ empathy also leads to patient’s self-

acceptance and healing.

ANALYSIS ON EMPATHY

References

Ancel, G. (2006). Developing Empathy in Nurses and Inservice Training Program. Archives of Psychiatric

Nursing, 249.

Hojat, M. (2016). In Empathy in Health Professions Education and Patient Care. A Definition and Key

Features of Empathy in Patient Care. , 71-81.

Hooker, C. (2015). why phenomenology and hermeneutics can help medical education and practice.

Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy. Understanding empathy, 541-552.

Julia Williams and Theodores Stickley. (2010). Nurse Education Today. Empathy and Nurse Education,

752.

Kay de Vries. (2000). Enhancing Creativity to I mprove Palliative Care; The role of experienctial self care

workshop. International Journal of Palliative Nursing, 505.

Larkin, R. W. (2017). The Experience of Empathy. Humanistic Psychology of Nursing, 3.

Olson, D. K. (2001). Clarification of Conceptualization of Empathy. Advanced Nursing, 317-325.

Thompson, N. M. (2016). Empathy. In Neuroimaging Personality, Social Cognition, and Character.

Empathy in Nursing, 289-303.

Yatimer, M. C.-Y. (2008). Empathetic Response in Nurses Who Treat Pain. Advanced Nursing, 711-729.

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