| Category: Social Awareness | Topic: Empathy and Sympathy | Level: Primary |
What is SEL?
Social and emotional learning (SEL) is the process through which we understand and manage our emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships and make responsible decisions. SEL can be divided into 5 core categories: Self-Awareness, Self-Management, Social Awareness, Relationship Management and Effective Decision-Making.
Empathy and Sympathy are part of the Social Awareness category.
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What are Empathy and Sympathy?
Empathy is the ability to share the feelings of another person. It means to put yourself in another person’s situation, understand how they feel and take action to express your understanding. Sympathy is experiencing feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else. Sympathy can involve support such as of sharing your opinion or acting with the same feeling (i.e. acting sad as well). When you sympathize, you offer a response. When you empathize, you are making a connection.
1 to 1 Exercise: A Mile in Someone Else’s Shoes
| Materials None needed | Setting Anytime |
The words we use are very important in either showing empathy or sympathy.
| Sympathy | à | Empathy |
| “I’m sorry for you.” | à | “I understand.” |
| “I’m sorry you’re in pain.” | à | “I feel your pain.” |
| “You should try ….” | à | “I’m here to listen.” |
| “Something like that happened to me…” | à | “You must feel sad.” |
| “That sucks.” | à | “Thank you for sharing.” |
Practice using the language of empathy by talking about different situations and thinking about how to respond. For example, what could you say if a friend lost their dog? What would you say if your sister lost a tooth? Role-play with each other how a conversation might go.
Fascinating Details:
The human brain is the most complex organ in the body. Research has shown that there is a specific part of our brain responsible for feeling and expressing empathy. A person’s ability to feel and express empathy is lowered when this area of the brain is injured or not working correctly.
One way that empathy is different than sympathy is because empathy involves emotion and sympathy involves recognition. To truly show empathy, we have to try and feel what the other person is feeling. You can practice this by thinking about different scenarios and talking about how you both would feel in that situation. Ask, “How would you feel if…” type of questions. For example, “How would you feel if you lost your favorite toy?” or “How would you feel if your sister was sick?” Talk about different situations that have happened to others that you know and discuss how you both would feel in a similar situation. You’re more equipped to feel empathy when you have “walked a mile in someone else’s shoes.”
Just for Fun
“Rarely can a response make something better, what makes something better is a connection.” – Brené Brown
“Empathy is walking a mile in someone else’s moccasins. Sympathy is being sorry their feet hurt.” – Rebecca O’Donnell