I’m looking for a verb or noun that refers to our capacity to abstract someone else’s experience or experiences vicariously.
Such a word would be good for describing what it takes to be able to profile a serial killer or to survive after analyzing a victim’s suicide note for examples. I’m looking for a more clinical term than empathy.‘Empathy’ would work if the line between definition and connotation weren’t so ambiguous. Most of the definitions I found, however, seem to necessitate personal opinion toward the other’s experience, such as deeming his/her emotions as appropriate for the situation. I looking for anything that refrains from such presumptions.
Answer
This sort of ambiguity is why, in clinical discussions, empathy is often divided into two classes:
- Emotional (or “affective“) empathy – to experience an emotional response appropriate to another’s state
- Cognitive empathy – to understand another’s state or perspective without an emotional response
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : OscarE , Answer Author : Steven K
