Comments on: Five ways to expand your empathy

By: Christina Hart

Christina Hart — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 07:15:34 +0000

I’ve just found this wonderful website courtesy of an item on Roman Krznaric in the Oxford University magazine ‘Oxford Today’ (Vol 22, No 2).

I live in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. The main town is Lismore. Lismore Library has a ‘Living Book’ scheme, where you ‘borrow’ a person for half an hour and talk with them about themselves and whatever ‘category’ they represent – Aboriginal, farmer, person with a disability, Buddhist, vegan etc. The idea behind the scheme is empathy building though personal contact, and gaining knowledge and understanding. I think libraries in the Netherlands were the innovators.

Incidentally, I noted the other item on Jo Parry and the IRA Brighton bomber, and know about the Forgiveness Project through my sister-in-law, Marian Partington – her sister Lucy was one of the victims of Fred and Rosemary West.

By: zeban hussain

zeban hussain — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:07:19 +0000

Louise Arkles, take it from someone who knows, it is absolutely amazing how much a stranger will tell you in a brief encounter actually but you have to actually be interested and be curious about that person. If this is genuine then it wouldn’t appear nosey. That is a part of having empathy. Perhaps you are not getting the point of it.

I do think people who are not innately empathetic can be more empathetic but maybe they also have to be the type of person who is naturally inclined to question the status quo. Most people just accept that the world is dog-eat-dog, that we will get nowhere from having empathy, and that it is pointless if we want to be ’successful’ in life. Life is hard enough as it is for everyone with personal and financial struggles, sadness from loss and death etc, if we all had abit more empathy the world would definitely be a better place and actually more successful.

By: Louise Arkles

Louise Arkles — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 04:36:12 +0000

A great post, but I take issue with a couple of points.
One: It is not so easy to act on our (natural or cultivated) curiosity about strangers. If what is required is “a mutual exchange of thoughts on your most important beliefs and experiences”, how can you work a brief conversation into a deep & meaningful. There are at least 2 inhibitors with someone new – 1) there is no trust established, so many people won’t want to exchange personal views, and 2) you don’t want to be seen to be prying. It’s a fine line between asking meaningful and just plain nosey questions.
Secondly, how on earth do you get to shadow a banker for a day! Even if the individual would agree, their firm would not! I don’t think that’s a realistic suggestion.

By: New Practices « My Verse

New Practices « My Verse — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:28:43 +0000

[...] Year’s Explorations” rather than resolutions (Roman blogs on ‘Empathy’). He writes: “Expanding your empathy might offer just what you are looking for. Empathising is an [...]

By: My Verse

My Verse — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:27:32 +0000

[...] Year’s Explorations” rather than resolutions (Roman blogs on ‘Empathy’). He writes: “Expanding your empathy might offer just what you are looking for. Empathising is an [...]

By: Desiree Zamorano

Desiree Zamorano — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 18:28:08 +0000

Dear Roman:
Love this–small steps that can accumulate into a quiet global revolution. I first discovered empathy as a taught skill via Gad Czudner’s Small Criminals Among Us, and use this with my teacher candidates.

By: Jane Davis

Jane Davis — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 14:35:37 +0000

Therapeutic psychology has identified a small category of people they call ‘over-empathisers’. It is considered a problem because this type of person is too worried about hurting others to get their own needs met. I can see that, if it were constant, a high degree of empathy might cause problems of this sort, but, as your blog suggests, the usual issue is prejudice and lack of empathy. If empathy is met with empathy, then you would think everyone’s needs would be met more frequently and those needs would be expressed in a less hostile and demanding way.

So business may be open to the idea but it is peculiar how most mainstream psychology is pushing a vision of mental health that is essentially egotistic and instinct led on one hand and excessively passive and conformist on the other.

comments from psychologists (or anyone else) welcome….

By: Tweets that mention Five ways to expand your empathy -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Five ways to expand your empathy -- Topsy.com — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 09:42:16 +0000

[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by kimberly jones, telissa little. telissa little said: Five ways to expand your empathy: Five ways to expand your empathy. By Roman Krznaric | Published: 1 January 20.. http://bit.ly/8II0xJ [...]