Sympathy and empathy are two words that frequently get confused. This is perhaps because they sound similar, look similar, and are used in similar ways.
However, they have very different meanings. Understanding the difference between these two words is essential to effective communication. This article will help you distinguish between them.
Definitions
Sympathy is an emotion that involves feelings of compassion, sorrow, or pity for someone or other people who are suffering. It is often viewed as a negative emotion, but it can also be used positively.
Empathy, on the other hand, requires a more personal sense of identification or projection. For example, you could sympathize with a person who lost their job, but it would be difficult to have empathy for that same person if you’ve never experienced unemployment yourself.
Both sympathy and empathy come from the Greek word pathos, meaning “feelings or emotions,” but they are not synonymous. While both words are related, they’re not interchangeable, and it’s important to know the difference between them so you can use them correctly. The following information will help you do just that.
Usage
Sympathy is the emotion of pity for another person’s unfortunate situation. It’s usually accompanied by feelings of regret and sorrow. For example, if someone you know gets reprimanded at work, you might sympathize with them. You might feel sorry for them, but you may not share their feelings or experience.
Empathy, on the other hand, involves sharing in the other person’s emotions and understanding their perspective. This is why most cards designed to send to people who lose loved ones say “Our Sympathies.” You would feel empathetic for a coworker who has been given a bad performance review, even if you didn’t have the same issue yourself.
In customer service, empathy is critical for a great customer experience. If a live support agent feels sympathy instead of empathy for an angry customer, they might spend too much time wallowing in pity and not enough time focusing on how to resolve the problem quickly. This can have a negative impact on both the customer and the employee’s mood.
Common Mistakes
The words empathy and sympathetic are often mistaken for one another, but they have different meanings. Empathy is a more personal emotion that requires you to put yourself in someone else’s shoes, as well as understand and feel what they are going through.
Sympathy, on the other hand, is more of a general feeling of compassion and sorrow for someone. You may feel sorry for someone who lost their job, but that does not necessarily mean you are empathetic with them.
As a psychotherapist and author, Leonard says that it is important to distinguish between sympathy and empathy because you are able to validate your friend’s feelings with empathy, but with sympathy, you are pitying them. That’s not a good thing to do. In fact, she points out that having too much empathy can actually make you a less-effective parent, spouse, or friend, because it can lead to irrational and unfair political decisions. It can also lead to a lack of compassion for those who have not suffered similar challenges and trials, which is why it’s important to differentiate between the two emotions.
Grammar
Sympathy is a feeling of sharing someone else’s feelings, especially in times of sorrow. You might send a card to someone who has lost a loved one with the words “sympathy.” The verb form is sympathize, as in:
Sympathizing means feeling pity or sorrow for another person’s misfortune. It’s a sentiment commonly expressed in greeting cards. In a more general sense, sympathy can refer to the harmony that exists between people with similar tastes, dispositions, or opinions. For example, a character in a movie might be described as having “sympathy” with others who have a difficult time dealing with jealousy.
Sympathy is frequently confused with empathy, a more profound and complicated emotion that takes a person into their own situation. Empathy requires a willingness to place yourself in the shoes of another person, to truly understand their thoughts, emotions, and problems. Sympathy is more limited in its scope, and it’s not uncommon for people to feel sympathy for someone without also feeling empathy for them.