What is Empathy?

Empathy is the ability to emotionally understand what other people are feeling, see things from others’ perspectives, and imagine yourself in their place. It is an important life skill to be developed, and can help you personally, academically and professionally, in five key ways.

We believe that empathy can be taught from a young age, and it’s one of the key life skills that we practise in our school sessions.

1. It’s a great way of learning without first-hand experience: Empathetic people are great listeners, and good listeners are good learners. Empathy allows us to put ourselves in the place of others without experiencing their lives.
2. It enables us to work more effectively with others: Empathy is a core aspect of emotional intelligence, which allows us to develop rapport and trust with people we encounter in our everyday lives, allowing us to work more effectively with them.
3. It better equips us to manage interpersonal conflict: Empathy allows us to put ourselves in other peoples’ shoes, and means that we are better able to engage with another person’s perspective.
4. It helps us to see the bigger picture: Through helping us to see and understand different perspectives and world-views, empathy helps us to understand the bigger picture surrounding an issue or a concept, broadening our viewpoint.
5. It leads to higher levels of academic achievement: A number of studies have shown that empathy and academic attainment are positively correlated (Bonner and Aspy, 1984; Feshbach and Fesbach, 1987). It has even been shown that empathy can be trained, in order to increase young peoples’ academic achievement (Feshbach and Kinrad, 2001; Feshbach et al., 1984).

For more school-based resources, inspiration and further reading, head over to Empathy Lab UK's website!