Empathy: Difference between revisions
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'''Empathy''' is defined as the ability to understand (cognitive empathy) and share (effective empathy) the feelings of other people. | |||
This may be somewhat complicated by [[alexithymia]], the ability to feel and describe your own emotions. | |||
It may also be confounded by the different ways Autistic and allistic people tend to relate to emotions in terms of communication style. For example, if someone describes a plight of theirs, we might offer a similar story of our own to show how much we can relate to it. Allistic people will likely misinterpret this as an attempt to one-up them with a disregard for their feelings, rather than a sign of camaraderie. | |||
== Hyper-empathy == | |||
Many Autistic people have what allistic people regard as "too much" empathy,<ref name="right-temporoparietal-junction" /><ref name="dee-newtsoda" /> as we'll be ethical even when no-one's watching. | |||
Some of us also have a tendency to ascribe emotional states even to inanimate objects,<ref name="object-personification-in-autism" /> quite possibly explaining the prevalence of plushie [[Collection|collections]] within the community. | |||
It's ''possible'' that allistic people generally only have empathy for people they know and are familiar with, while not having empathy for strangers.<ref name="erikaheidewald" /> Bear in mind that social circles are somewhat neurologically limited to about 150 people,<ref name="the-ultimate-brain-teaser" /> suggesting that ''most'' people do not have empathy for ''most'' other people, only for their tight-knit group of friends and family. (Verification is definitely needed for this claim, even if it would explain a lot.) If this is true, it's certainly hard for those of us who apparently have hyper-empathy to wrap our heads around. | |||
== Hypo-empathy == | |||
== See also == | |||
* [[Double empathy problem]] | |||
== References == | |||
<references> | |||
<ref name="right-temporoparietal-junction">[https://www.jneurosci.org/content/41/8/1699 Right Temporoparietal Junction Underlies Avoidance of Moral Transgression in Autism Spectrum Disorder]</ref> | |||
<ref name="object-personification-in-autism">[https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1362361318793408 Object personification in autism: This paper will be very sad if you don't read it]</ref> | |||
<ref name="the-ultimate-brain-teaser">[https://web.archive.org/web/20040626093637/http://www.liv.ac.uk:80/researchintelligence/issue17/brainteaser.html The Ultimate Brain Teaser]</ref> | |||
<ref name="erikaheidewald">[https://twitter.com/erikaheidewald/status/1368966115804598275 Twitter thread] Erika Heidewald</ref> | |||
<ref name="dee-newtsoda">[https://twitter.com/DeeNewtsoda/status/1514965559410057219 Twitter thread] Newtsoda Dee</ref> | |||
</references> | |||
[[Category:Psychology]] | [[Category:Psychology]] | ||
Latest revision as of 13:19, 1 September 2022
Empathy is defined as the ability to understand (cognitive empathy) and share (effective empathy) the feelings of other people.
This may be somewhat complicated by alexithymia, the ability to feel and describe your own emotions.
It may also be confounded by the different ways Autistic and allistic people tend to relate to emotions in terms of communication style. For example, if someone describes a plight of theirs, we might offer a similar story of our own to show how much we can relate to it. Allistic people will likely misinterpret this as an attempt to one-up them with a disregard for their feelings, rather than a sign of camaraderie.
Hyper-empathy[edit]
Many Autistic people have what allistic people regard as "too much" empathy,[1][2] as we'll be ethical even when no-one's watching.
Some of us also have a tendency to ascribe emotional states even to inanimate objects,[3] quite possibly explaining the prevalence of plushie collections within the community.
It's possible that allistic people generally only have empathy for people they know and are familiar with, while not having empathy for strangers.[4] Bear in mind that social circles are somewhat neurologically limited to about 150 people,[5] suggesting that most people do not have empathy for most other people, only for their tight-knit group of friends and family. (Verification is definitely needed for this claim, even if it would explain a lot.) If this is true, it's certainly hard for those of us who apparently have hyper-empathy to wrap our heads around.
