Pandempathy
It goes without saying that the COVID-19 pandemic is affecting everyone, everywhere around the globe. It used to be that when disasters affected parts of the world, people in other countries had to summon up their empathy to understand what was happening and how it felt. Now that we’re experiencing this crisis as a global community, it’s shortsighted to think that we no longer need to empathize and support one other. In fact, in times like these, empathy is more important than ever, and it needs to spread.
Types of Empathy
Broadly, empathy is the ability to understand and feel what others are feeling. Empathy is neurologically derived but not every human brain has the innate ability to process and respond empathetically. There are three main types of empathy - Cognitive, Emotional, and Compassionate.
Cognitive empathy is about understanding how others might think or how they actually do think. In the context of the Corona-Virus, lawmakers, doctors, and politicians are relying on cognitive empathy and using data and facts to make their decisions. They’re concerned about people’s health because they can see the number of cases rising, but perhaps not because they can feel what it’s like to be sick or know anyone who is sick.
Emotional empathy is much more physiological than intellectual. It’s the ability to use mimic feelings in one’s own body, positive or negative. Right now, emotional empathy can look like panic and despair. Whether you see people panicking to buy supplies in grocery stories or read about their updates on social media, these feelings transfer and spread rapidly, almost unconsciously. In the same way, emotional empathy can be positive. Optimism spreads to others when we are in touch with people who project hope. Although relying on emotional empathy may help us be a better friend or relative, it can sway one’s decision-making abilities in times of stress, clouding out rational decision making.
Compassionate empathy is the optimal form of empathy and can be considered the “Goldilocks” of empathy. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence, defined compassionate empathy as the ability to, “not only understand a person’s predicament and feel with them, but are spontaneously moved to help, if needed.” Compassionate empathy prompts people to action. In times like these, it’s thinking about the risks, feeling concerned for one’s health, and actually taking the necessary precautions. Or, it could be realizing a friend or family member is alone and isolated or a member of the medical community on the front lines and making it a point to get in touch with them regularly. Or, it could be signing a petition for lawmakers to pass policies to help the economy.
How to Learn Empathy
The good news is that our brains are malleable and empathy can be learned.
1. Learn empathy in a group setting through games and toys and conversations. Design Dream Lab fosters an empathy-rich community and has even produced a game to help people explore and practice empathy.
2. An Empathy Map template is used in many disciplines such as design, to better understand customer behaviors, needs, and concerns. Empathy Maps are more reliable when researchers don’t simply make guesses on how others think but interview the users to glean insights.
3. Loving-Kindness Meditation in particular is an effective way to think of others in your life with an open heart. Meditation also affects the brains’ stress response to help them increase their grey matter.
4. Volunteering works to help empathy because it exposes a person to situations they ordinarily wouldn’t notice. This in turn provides a context to understanding and wanting to help people less fortunate than you.
5. Look to technology and artificial intelligence to boost your awareness. There are now ways to share emotions using radio frequency and wearing brain sensors to track and understand your emotions. This is a trend that will likely grow in the next decade.