The Future of Feeling: Building Empathy in a Tech-Obsessed World

by Kaitlin Ugolik Phillips

compassion is feeling for someone; empathy is feeling with them.

we can’t ever really know what it’s like to be someone else. We can only know what it’s like to imagine being someone else.

The people who scored higher in empathy also scored much higher in reading body language, conflict-resolution skills, resilience, and standing by their values.

“Empathetic people are happier, more self-aware, self-motivated, and optimistic. They cope better with stress, assert themselves when it is required, and are comfortable expressing their feelings. There was only one scale where non-empathetic people scored higher: Need for Approval.”

College students in 2010 appeared to have 40 percent less empathy than people their age had in 1979.