Nothing is more frustrating than asking a question only to have it ignored or dismissed. Here are some suggestions for people who are looking to practice intellectual empathy and encourage curious minds to keep asking the questions that are meaningful to them.
If this person is taking the time to ask you a question, there’s a reason for it. There’s no reason to expect that someone would have the same knowledge as you, or that they would understand it the same way.
If you haven't heard it, you can’t answer anyone’s question but your own. You could miss out on a real learning opportunity by cutting someone’s question short, and you’ll waste your time and theirs if they have to ask someone else.
Make sure you’re steering them in the right direction by giving your question asker the opportunity to clarify. And if the question isn’t clear, feel free to asks questions of your own so you can get them the information that’s going to be helpful to them!
Perfect for lengthy explanations or multi-step processes, a simple “Are you with me?” goes a long way. It’s also helpful to make sure they know exactly what you’re referencing, so try to use precise language and assume as little prior information as possible.
Asking someone to explain what they know and what they’ve tried can help you diagnose the problem they’re experiencing if they themselves can’t articulate it. If you’ve ever called an IT company for help with a computer, you’ll realize that even though they have the answers, they let you do most of the talking.
For many people, asking questions prompts a “Sorry to bother you” response that can only be assuaged by a sincere “Let me know if you have any more questions!”
McGonigal challenges you to practice hard empathy with these three steps: 1 Go to any news site 2 Read a story about someone experiencing something you have never directly experienced 3 Imagine yourself experiencing it
Jane McGonigal, world-renowned game designer and Director of Game Research and Development for the Institute for the Future, says you can. And she can tell you how. In November, McGonigal kicked off the online game for social change, Face the Future, with Facing History.
While there is some evidence that the ability to empathize is traced to genetic predisposition, it's also true that empathy is a skill that can be increased or decreased. One of the most effective ways for someone to become empathic is for them to be trained as children.
Empathy is a part of education known as "emotional intelligence.". Teaching children to think of the way that other people feel is a good way of helping them develop empathy. If a child hurts another child or teases them, it's helpful to ask the child how they think they made the other one feel.
Different Types of Empathy 1 Cognitive empathy. Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand how someone else feels and to work out what they might be thinking. 2 Emotional empathy or Affective empathy. Emotional empathy refers to the ability to share another person's emotions. This would mean when you see someone else who is sad, it makes you feel sad. 3 Compassionate empathy or Empathic Concern. Compassionate empathy is when you take feelings to actions. It goes beyond understanding and relating to other people's situations, and pushed an individual to do something.
While a large majority of the population is capable of empathy, sometimes the practice of it is limited. But what is empathy, and why is it important?
Maya Angelou once said, "I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.". Albert Einstein said, "Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.". Former President Barack Obama has said, "The biggest deficit that we have in our society and in the world right now is an empathy deficit.
Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand how someone else feels and to work out what they might be thinking. Emotional empathy or Affective empathy. Emotional empathy refers to the ability to share another person's emotions. This would mean when you see someone else who is sad, it makes you feel sad.
Emotional empathy or Affective empathy. Emotional empathy refers to the ability to share another person's emotions. This would mean when you see someone else who is sad, it makes you feel sad. Compassionate empathy or Empathic Concern. Compassionate empathy is when you take feelings to actions.
I appreciate this. The idea of accompanying those with whom we disagree on their intellectual path implies a humility that would serve intellectual discourse well. Imagine taking the posture of walking a step behind, allowing the other to "teach" us what us think we already know. Powerful exhortation.
I am writing you together with Boris Porena ( www.borisporena.blogspot.com ). We reached your entry through the reference provided by the Daily Dish. Mr Porena, a italo-german philosopher of culture and composer, has been writing 40 years exactly about the same issue. What you call "intellectual empathy", he has defined as "Metacultural Hypothesis", a hypothesis about how to overcome the cultural clashes that menace our survival as species. And he has developed this hypothesis in a series of essays (originally written in Italian, now we are starting translation in other languages), from 1975 till today. Moreover, together with a small but influential Center, he has applied this hypothesis in a variety of practical settings, pedagogical (with small kids, with 'uneducated' people) and political. 'Impromptu' I have orally translated your piece to him, in front of his fireplace, at Cantalupo in Sabina, 50 kms north of Rome, and he has been absolutely delighted with it, and asked me to write these two lines, to tell you how pleased he is to see that the same way of thinking, or 'thought style', as he call it, is developing synchronically at different places in the world. What you call "interlocking system of beliefs" is called by Porena "Local Cultural Universe" (LCU), an imaginary entity which condenses a sum of cultural units acquired through our experience. And what you call "concord", Porena calls "convergence", and one of the explicit goals of his work has been to search for these convergences as a tool for peace.