The 5 types of empathy: which ones do you identify with?

There are different types of empathy. They are personalities that integrate particular characters with a predominant form of empathy. Because although we conceive this dimension as the mere ability to intuit, understand and connect with the emotional realities of others, in reality, it shows a wide range of nuances, singularities and cadences that make it more complex than we think.

John Steinbeck said that you can only understand people if you feel them in yourself. It’s true. However, there are those who feel human beings in a more particular way. Others, however, show greater sensitivity to the animal world or natural settings.. There are also those who show a more intense connection with social problems and those who suffer injustice.

It is as if the emotional brain and those regions that orchestrate empathic processes manifest themselves in a particular way in each of us. They are different ways of feeling that also guide our behavior and even our decisions.

Types of empathy, different ways of feeling and connecting

One of the most recognized figures in the field of research on empathic people is Dr. Judith Orloff. In books like The Empath’s Survival Guide describes this personality profile as figures with a more pronounced sensitivity, with problems managing stress and who are in turn defined by being authentic emotional sponges. They absorb any negativity, worry or concern from others.

Now, there is a nuance. According to her, there are different types of empathy and it is common for many people to score higher in specific typologies.. That is to say, while it is true that every empathic woman or man is more receptive and sensitive to everything around them, sometimes we may find that this empathy is concentrated more significantly in a certain area.

We analyze each of these dimensions below.

1. Emotional empathy

This first typology is present in most of us. That is, we can capture, read and interpret other people’s emotions. However, There are those who demonstrate a special ability to connect with the emotional worlds of others. This translates into experiencing with great intensity firsthand the concern of the other, their needs, their anxieties, happiness, fears and desires.

The risk of being an emotional empath is that it is common to fall under the influence of a narcissist. The first is a great provider of attention, affection and understanding, something that for the second is essential to survive, which is why he does not hesitate to manipulate him to achieve what he wants.

2. Physical empathy: I feel your pain in me

At Stanford University they conducted research to better understand one type of empathy: physical empathy. Consists in experiencing with great intensity the pain of others in oneself. When one witnesses someone’s physical suffering, that vision can be highly disturbing because it is experienced firsthand, because one suffers almost in the same way.

All of this has a neurological correlate. Regions such as the postcentral gyrus, the inferior parietal lobe, the thalamus or the amygdala orchestrate that sensation. Thus, scenes such as seeing someone get hurt, suffer an accident, or even more so, how they experience a certain illness, can be disturbing for many types of empaths.

3. Empathy with animals

This type of empathy occurs with high frequency. There are men and women much more sensitive than others to the realities of animals. Not only do they feel more closeness and attachment to them, but they also feel their suffering and perceive themselves as highly connected to them, which is why they dedicate part of their lives to their attention, care and protection.

4. Social injustice

Inequalities, poverty, racism, discrimination, abuse, violence, falsehood… One of the types of empathy that we can also appreciate is that regarding social injustices.. They are figures who experience a greater reaction to those who suffer these experiences and this drives them to develop work to be able to fight against these realities.

5. Behavioral empathy

There are those who have a singular ability to understand the behaviors of others. Knowing why people act the way they do is also part of empathy. It is identifying motivators and emotional realities in others that urge them to do certain things or react in one way and not another.

This type of faculty is very characteristic of educators, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. Understanding human behavior can be complex. but sometimes being particularly empathetic toward this area can help.

In conclusion. It is true that we all have empathic faculties, however each of us scores higher in some typologies than in others.. This guides our choices in life, our way of being and also the way we relate to others. Understanding it, in turn, allows us to know ourselves much better.

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