Week 3
Assignment Due 9/14/22: UXD Principles & Concepts | Masters program
What is empathy?
Empathy is the ability to put oneself in another person’s shoes, to see a situation from their point of view, through their thoughts or feelings.
There are three specific kinds of empathy:
Cognitive
Cognitive empathy knows how another person feels and what they might think, aka perspective-taking. Cognitive empathy is excellent if you want to get inside a person’s head, especially for negotiating & motivating.
Emotional
Ever been a plus-one at a wedding and cried during the vows even though you didn’t know anyone? Emotional empathy is when you physically take on another person’s emotions in an almost mirrored way. A drawback of having this type of empathy is it can be mentally exhausting, leading to burnout.
Compassionate
Having a balance between Cognitive and Emotional empathy, but now you’re compelled to try and help. Ideally, this is the empathy we want to achieve because it connects thinking, feeling, and action. It’s the trifecta!
My experiences
After taking the Empathy Quotient assessment, I was surprised by my score of 49/80. I assumed the results would be higher, but it’s just over half the possible points. I consider myself a pretty open-minded, compassionate person, especially when someone I care about is suffering (mentally, emotionally, or physically). I’m sensitive (I’ve got a big heart), and I try not to say anything that might hurt someone’s feelings. I never want to offend anyone or step on their toes. If someone is crying, I tend to cry also. I also try to avoid confrontation whenever possible. But as I learn more about empathy, I question whether I’m more sympathetic vs. empathetic.
Sometimes I have difficulty emotionally connecting to things I see on tv, but perhaps that’s because all we see is bad and depressing. Don’t get me wrong; it saddens me to see people on the news suffering but often, not to the point I’m in tears. I sometimes lack empathy for someone who hurt my feelings or “did me wrong,” and I tend to “check out” from them. These scenarios could be why I only scored 49 on my EQ test.
Alternatively, I’ve been involved with accessibility testing with blind or low vision participants. It can get emotional when they can’t complete a task because a site or app isn’t compatible with screen readers or doesn’t align with WCAG standards. Hearing their frustrations sparks something inside me and calls me to action. Being in this profession has helped me be more in tune with others. Even when I don’t know how someone feels or what they think, listening and observing can create an astronomically higher level of empathy for all involved. I am very passionate about my work in user experience design, and I’m learning more every day about how I can put myself in someone’s shoes.
Assignment submitted 9/11/2022 by Shannon Kelly.