Community Chat

[Noel7]

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@house_cat wrote:

Sympathy involves a degree of judgment.  If you sympathize with someone, you pity their situation, but don't necessarily believe it can happen to you. Empathy is the understanding that their suffering could easily be yours, as well.

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I have to disagree.  Sympathy does not include judgement. Judgement may come, but it's not a part of sympathy.

[Noel7]

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@sidsmom wrote:

How can you “train” for this?

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@sidsmom

You can't.  You either have those abilities or you don't.  If you know someone who does not have those qualities, they are possibly a sociopath.

However, people can and do train to know how to fake it.

[rrpell]

Empathy is when one can look at a situation and "feel" that situation without experiencing it. 

Sympathy is good manners. 

[QueenDanceALot]

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@sidsmom wrote:

How can you “train” for this?

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Interesting question.

Certainly there are some (many?) people who could not be trained as they don't have the capacity to "get" it. 

[QueenDanceALot]

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@sidsmom wrote:

@lolakimono

Yes, the cartoon is cute!

IDK....I have to chew on this for a while.

My initial gut reaction is...it’s just part of our DNA.

It’s not a Nature vs Nurture situation.

Good topic to ponder over!

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@sidsmom

Yes, I agree.  Very young children can exhibit empathy and/or sympathy without having been around long enough to have been "taught".

I wonder if our DNA is changing.  Or if we just recognize the lack of empathy in many people more readily now.

[Noel7]

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@QueenDanceALot wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

How can you “train” for this?

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Interesting question.

Certainly there are some (many?) people who could not be trained as they don't have the capacity to "get" it. 

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@QueenDanceALot

Psychopaths and sociopaths train for it, but they are not absorbing the ability to have a conscience or to feel sorrow.  What they do is train to be able to mimic it so they can manipulate others.

[QueenDanceALot]

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@Noel7 wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

How can you “train” for this?

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@sidsmom

You can't.  You either have those abilities or you don't.  If you know someone who does not have those qualities, they are possibly a sociopath.

However, people can and do train to know how to fake it.

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Yes, a friend of mine in the mental health field has told me though that sometimes intervention before age 7 can work to improve real empathy with some.  

For those who have none and will never have any don't necessarily have to train how to fake it.  They just learn how by observing.  Which I suppose you could call a training of sorts.

.

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[QueenDanceALot]

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@Noel7 wrote:

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@QueenDanceALot wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

How can you “train” for this?

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Interesting question.

Certainly there are some (many?) people who could not be trained as they don't have the capacity to "get" it. 

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@QueenDanceALot

Psychopaths and sociopaths train for it, but they are not absorbing the ability to have a conscience or to feel sorrow.  What they do is train to be able to mimic it so they can manipulate others.

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@Noel7 wrote:

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@QueenDanceALot wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

How can you “train” for this?

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Interesting question.

Certainly there are some (many?) people who could not be trained as they don't have the capacity to "get" it. 

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@QueenDanceALot

Psychopaths and sociopaths train for it, but they are not absorbing the ability to have a conscience or to feel sorrow.  What they do is train to be able to mimic it so they can manipulate others.

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@Noel7

Yes, I am very familiar with this type of person.

Some children are very good at it at a young age and I don't think they train for it.  They just know how to do it by observing others.  

[Snowpuppy]

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@Noel7 wrote:

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@sidsmom wrote:

How can you “train” for this?

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@sidsmom

You can't.  You either have those abilities or you don't.  If you know someone who does not have those qualities, they are possibly a sociopath.

However, people can and do train to know how to fake it.

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When you only know someone casually or in passing, how involved are you expected to be? Especially if they have extended family, etc?

You can be viewed as the intrusive type at best. Gladys Kravitz as worst.