1. How is Sadness listening empathetically?
2. What is the difference between empathy and sympathy?
3. Can you recall a time you were an empathetic listener? When and how?
4. Do you find it easy or difficult to show empathy

 

Interpersonal Communication

How Sadness Listening Is Emphatically

Sadness listening is empathic because it makes people understand each other to the extent of sharing feelings. Sadness listening evokes emotions making one develop empathy for the other. Empathy is a vital element of social interactions because it enhances prosocial behaviors (Cao, Dingle, Chan & Cunnington, 2017). Through the enhancement of prosocial behavior, empathy promotes close friendships.

The Difference between Empathy and Sympathy

The difference between sympathy and empathy is emotion. Empathy requires one to experience another person’s feelings. It requires one to develop an emotional feeling to the extent that one feels the same way as the other (Miller, 2021). Empathy makes the empathizer understand the feelings of the one being empathized to the extent that the empathizer shares the other person’s feelings. On the other hand, sympathy means understanding the other person’s suffering by showing them pity or sorrow. Sympathy is not emotional but cognitive, making the sympathizer distance themselves from the one being sympathized (Miller, 2021). Empathy males one to put themselves in the other person’s world because one is emotionally touched, but since sympathy is naturally cognitive, one may even keep themselves away from the situation.

The Time I was an Empathetic Listener. When and How?

I was an emphatic listener when a friend of mine told me that he wanted to quit schooling. I was so concerned to the extent of giving him compassion and attention. I asked him why he wanted to quit and if I could do to help him. The friend expressed his concerns while I was listening attentively without interrupting him.

Do you find it Easy or Difficult to Show Empathy?

I find it difficult to show empathy because it prompts pain. If I have to empathize, I have to feel the way the other person feels, thus putting mu\myself in their world. To show sympathy, one has to put themselves in the other person’s shoes by sharing the same feelings (Miller, 2021). It is not easy for one to take other people’s unpleasant feelings and pain.