Societal Shifts On Human Empathy

Effects of Societal Shifts on Human Empathy
History has shown that mankind has the natural tendency to evolve. Humans have the unrelenting desire to aspire for better things; for example, people have evolved from hunting and gathering to agriculture, the age of discovery to the age of enlightenment, and the industrial revolution to the multimedia age. Regardless of all the changes that humans have made, there is one thing that always remains the same: the interactions between one person and another. What distinguish humans from any other species are the human conscious and the human ability to understand and relate to the emotions of another being. For this reason, it is human nature to empathize and to seek out relationships with others. Therefore, …show more content…
However, empathy is less of an emotion or feeling and more of an ability or process. In her research article What is Empathy, and Can Empathy Be Taught? Carol M. Davis, a professor of physical therapy at University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, writes, “Empathy is more complex in that it is a three stage process, the second stage of which cannot be made to occur at will, but happens to us when we allow it.” Empathy is not something that can be taught because it is something one experiences and one does not realize has occurred until the moment has passed. In order to empathize, one must first attempt to fully understand the situation of the other and self-transpose, then, one will experience a deep sense of identity with the other, and ultimately, one will have a strong sympathy with the other and become engulfed in a complete momentary peace (Davis). Although empathy cannot entirely be taught, it is something that can be developed. The second stage of empathy, where one identifies with the other, is easier to experience if one is more open minded about people. For example, if one person who is a Muslim were to attempt to empathize with a person who is a Christian and because of their religious differences would refuse to see the similarities amongst each other then they would never empathize. One must develop tolerance in order to empathize with a broader scope of people. This is important because it would enable one to more easily understand the needs of others and treat others the way one would wish to be treated. The ability to empathize is critical to a productive society because people would have less interpersonal conflicts and be able to effortlessly set differences aside. Also, people would be kinder to one another as they begun to see things in perspectives other than their own and begin to generally be more