So, what’s the difference between the two? According to Spinelli, while empathy and compassion are closely related and can work in tandem when it comes to understanding and relating to the emotions and experiences of others, empathy focuses on understanding and sharing those emotions, while compassion extends sympathy by adding a proactive and caring response to suffering.
In this way, according to Thiessen, this sense of commonality with others is the key differentiator between the two. For instance, you could be compassionate for another’s suffering without necessarily empathizing, and vice versa, you could feel empathy for someone’s suffering without necessarily being compassionate about it.
In fact, as recent research published in the journal Emotion2 explores, compassion appears to reign supreme when it comes to how empathy versus compassion impact our health. As the study authors explain, too much empathy can be hard on your health, while compassion seems to elevate it.
“Empathic people, controlling for compassion, often use self-focused language and write about negative feelings, social isolation, and feeling overwhelmed,” they write. “Compassionate people, controlling for empathy, often use other-focused language and write about positive feelings and social connections.”
This research ultimately highlights that high empathy without compassion is related to negative health outcomes, while high compassion without empathy is related to positive health outcomes, positive lifestyle choices, and charitable giving. “Such findings favor an approach to moral motivation that is grounded in compassion rather than empathy,” the study authors add.
And indeed, further research on empathy and pain perception has even shown that individuals with a high degree of empathy can quite literally feel the pain of others upon witnessing it. A fascinating evolutionary quirk to be sure—but not particularly great news if you’re around negative people all the time.
