Difference Between Empathy and Sympathy
Main difference
Empathy and sympathy are the two psychological terms that are often confused and conflated due to their almost similar origin, concurrent usage, and similar subject matter description. Empathy and Sympathy terms originate from the Greek term páthosthat refer to feelings, emotions, labor pains, suffering, etc. Both words exclusively represent the feelings and emotions of one person for the other person. The basic difference between Empathy and Sympathy is that sympathy refers to care and feeling for the sufferings and pains of a person. Sympathy are feelings of care and pain for the person who suffers from some pain or unequal situations. On the other hand, Empathy refers to feelings of understanding of the emotion and suffering of another person due to similar suffering personally. We can say that empathy is the feeling of understanding what a person is going through in a particular condition since we have experienced the same thing.
Comparison chart
| Empathy | Sympathy | |
| Definition | Empathy is the term that refers to the feelings of understanding the emotions and feelings of others through a similar personal experience. | Sympathy is the term that refers to understanding the pains, sadness and feelings of others and having a feeling of compassion for them. |
| Relationship | Understanding or feeling the situation of others due to personal experience. | Understand and feel the emotions of others through their experience. |
| Example | One person feels the feeling or another person, that is, “I know how it feels to lose my parents when I faced that situation a few years ago.” | Feeling others for their experience, i.e. “I’m so sorry you lost your parents, may their souls rest in peace.” |
| Gender | Empathy can refer to good and bad feelings. It covers both happiness and sadness. | Sympathy refers mainly to the negative, the pain, the suffering, the affliction, etc. |
| Scope | Empathy is usually a personal feeling and can be too much. | Sympathy can be from one to another person or from one to the whole community. It can be from the group to a single person and vice versa. |
What is empathy?
Empathy is the psychological term used to define feelings and understand other people’s emotions through one’s own personal experience. In psychology, there are several types of similar terms that describe different types of feelings, and people often get confused between them. Apathy, pity, empathy, sympathy, and compassion are some of those famous psychological terms that are widely used to refer to different types of feelings and emotions with each other. Apathy refers to feeling cold towards someone’s emotions and not paying attention to them. Pity is the psychological term that indicates only awareness and recognition of the feelings of others. Then there is sympathy which refers to caring for the feelings of others. Empathy is the term that describes that person feeling and understanding the feelings of others through a similar personal experience. Compassion is the term that maximizes feelings, wanting to heal the wounds of others. The term empathy and sympathy originate from the Greek word pathos, which means feelings and emotions. Empathy only differs from sympathy by personal experience. A person can better feel the pain and understand the situation when he or she has been through the same experience. Empathy only differs from sympathy by personal experience. A person can better feel the pain and understand the situation when he or she has been through the same experience. Empathy only differs from sympathy by personal experience. A person can better feel the pain and understand the situation when he or she has been through the same experience.
What is sympathy?
Sympathy is the psychological term that refers to the feeling of care and support that a person has while noticing others in trouble or suffering. Sympathy is the term that is always used to show the feelings of care, love and support towards people who are going through difficult times, who suffer or suffer from unequal situations. Unlike empathy, the person possessing sympathetic feelings of support and care is only aware of the person’s condition and has no history of personal suffering in this regard. Sympathy, unlike empathy, is always directed towards painful feelings and bad conditions. A person has feelings of sympathy for others when he sees them suffering from pain or heat.
empathy versus sympathy
- Empathy is the term that describes understanding the feelings of others through a similar type of personal experience.
- Sympathy is the term that refers to having feelings of care and support when others feel pain or suffering.
- Empathy can be for both good and bad experiences.
- Sympathy is only for suffering and unequal situations.