As children, we are taught to be empathetic.
General empathy is a value that is so important that it was instilled in children through videos and lessons in school. They were taught to “put yourself in their shoes” and did activities to further understand.
This value wasn’t just taught in schools though. Parents also reinforced this belief. Revealing that empathy has become a fundamental building block when growing up.
However, at some point a shift toward situational empathy was made.
Situational empathy, by definition, is when an individual’s empathetic response is dependent on a specific situation or event. Therefore, there is a lack of general empathy for those who are struggling.
The difference between general and situational empathy has grown to be more apparent in today’s society. AP psychology teacher Bryan Szweda notices that there are some who demonstrate more situational empathy when lacking general empathy.
“General empathy is interesting; there are people who struggle with that. So people who are more [generally] empathetic, they feel more deeply for other people and pain that they’re feeling. There are people that don’t feel much general empathy, so even though maybe their personality, they are not one that is more of a feeler … they can still feel that way about specific events,” Szweda said.
Counselor Dan Mustari shares these ideas as well.
“Some people [take to general] empathy easier than others. I think it takes someone who is able to think outside of themselves to begin with,” Mustari said.
More specifically, general empathy is something that is shown to everyone, no matter their background or circumstances. However, as previously mentioned, some people’s beliefs prevent them from distributing empathy to all.
This difference in empathy distribution poses the question of whether or not empathy is innate
Szweda believes that both do play a role in the development of empathy.
“There is nature and nurture there. I think general empathy is more of an innate trait. It can be learned, but there’s research that shows that there’s some genetics involved there. Situational empathy, I think, is a little bit more of a learned behavior in seeing how other people react to events,” Szweda said.
Therefore, situational empathy falls closer into the learned behavior category because it relies on reactions to certain events. This behavior is possibly adding to the country’s divide.
Notably, government officials have often been seen utilizing situational empathy to gain support in a certain community. The effect of this is that other stories are silenced and forgotten because the people with a voice deem them unimportant.
There are many instances in today’s society where general empathy could make a difference in citizens’ lives.
Illinois House Representative Sean Casten reflects on the lack of empathy and calls on officials to act.
“Empathy is more important than ever in today’s political climate. Over the last few months, I’ve met with hundreds of constituents and local organizations who are scared about cuts to health care, losing federal grants, increased ICE presence in our community, and rollbacks on vital climate initiatives. Elected officials have a responsibility to listen to those concerns, empathize with them, and work to address issues facing our community through legislative action in DC,” Casten said.
Situational empathy is a behavior that government officials need to reflect on and check themselves on before making decisions that will impact their community as a whole. By being more aware of the outside circumstances that constituents are facing, government officials can address certain situations with more general empathy.
Likewise, psychologist Ronald Zychowski acknowledges that some areas or groups are shown to be given more empathy than others.
“There are topics that garner a lot of empathy and then another group of people or another situation doesn’t receive that same amount of empathy or attention from other people…it doesn’t feel equal to situations across the board where there are many different situations in things that all require empathy and it shouldn’t just be regulated to one particular area,” Zychowski said.
Additionally, there have been many instances where families, communities, and individuals have been in need of empathy and compassion, but received silence instead.
After all, empathy should not be based on politics. Empathy should not be based on one’s race. Empathy should not be based on one’s background.
Henceforth, Szweda reiterates that empathy is significant in our society.
“The ability to recognize that even if someone may not believe the same as we do, or has some different values, you can still feel for them if something bad happens to them. And if we lose that, then it becomes much harder to have a dialogue,” Szweda said.
