It seems to be almost universally held that empathy is a desirable personality trait. I can certainly see that having better theory of mind—being better able to predict other peoples actions—is useful in any situation. But empathy, to me at least, also has connotations of sympathizing with the other person. Whilst I can see that this would be very useful in certain situations (e.g. sexual relationships), it seems to also be potentially harmful in other situations (e.g. management.) For example, firing someone who has been a reliable worker for many years, or confronting a person whose work is sub-par are all things that could be made more difficult by being sympathetic. Whilst I’m sure its possible to overcome such a reluctance consciously, these feelings might cause you to shy away from even thinking about such things, which cannot so easily be consciously corrected.
I’m also curious about how empathy brings benefits in social interactions apart from the theory of mind aspect of it. Obviously, people will like people more who seem to agree with them, like them and understand them; but it seems that all these signals could, with moderate effort, be faked effectively. I wouldn’t consider this to necessarily be deceptive, either—the signal one is sending is communicating how much one likes the other person and wishes to be allied with them; provided you genuinely do like the person and wish to be friends with them, then the signal seems to me to be honest. But its possible that I’m missing some subtle aspects of empathy that cannot be so easily faked.
Empathy would help figure out what signals need faking. Suppose someone’s pet dies. You could react in two ways, express sympathy from a similar situation, or help them move on by distracting them with something else. Either could be faked, but empathy would help you figure out which method they would respond to better.
It seems to be almost universally held that empathy is a desirable personality trait. I can certainly see that having better theory of mind—being better able to predict other peoples actions—is useful in any situation. But empathy, to me at least, also has connotations of sympathizing with the other person. Whilst I can see that this would be very useful in certain situations (e.g. sexual relationships), it seems to also be potentially harmful in other situations (e.g. management.) For example, firing someone who has been a reliable worker for many years, or confronting a person whose work is sub-par are all things that could be made more difficult by being sympathetic. Whilst I’m sure its possible to overcome such a reluctance consciously, these feelings might cause you to shy away from even thinking about such things, which cannot so easily be consciously corrected.
I’m also curious about how empathy brings benefits in social interactions apart from the theory of mind aspect of it. Obviously, people will like people more who seem to agree with them, like them and understand them; but it seems that all these signals could, with moderate effort, be faked effectively. I wouldn’t consider this to necessarily be deceptive, either—the signal one is sending is communicating how much one likes the other person and wishes to be allied with them; provided you genuinely do like the person and wish to be friends with them, then the signal seems to me to be honest. But its possible that I’m missing some subtle aspects of empathy that cannot be so easily faked.
Empathy would help figure out what signals need faking. Suppose someone’s pet dies. You could react in two ways, express sympathy from a similar situation, or help them move on by distracting them with something else. Either could be faked, but empathy would help you figure out which method they would respond to better.
You mean sympathy, not empathy.
But yeah, humans don’t do pure empathy much. (Sociopaths?)