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Reflection Paper 4
Empathy is a very complex concept in several different ways. It is described as
understanding other people and communicating your knowledge along with understanding other
individuals (France & Weikel, 2015) Looking at empathy it is seen in four dimensions such as:
Affective, Cognitive, Behavioral, and Moral. As each dimension is used it is always of value to
the interpersonal or intrapersonal communication as to what dimension a person uses because not
everyone shows well defined styles of empathy. Affective empathy is when one person reads and
understand another person’s emotions. Cognitive empathy is to understand another person’s
feelings and perspectives in an objective way. Throughout psychology Carl Rogers, the founder
of humanistic psychology, was the first to make empathy part of his psychotherapy approach
because it is more patient centered. Behavioral empathy takes on the 3-dimensions of cognitive,
affective and behavioral. When communicating it is always good to look at who you are talking
to, feelings toward the person, and communicate to make sure what is being discussed is
understood. Moral empathy helps to recover feelings or suffering of a person you are
communicating with at all times (Petersen, 2015).
When communicating with others it is always good to be able to understand every
person’s point of view during the dialogue or conversation. IN a recent study when a counselor is
responding to a client who is depressed only 17% showed empathy. In the same study only 30%
showed warmth and genuineness. When looking at the way people communicate with others in
my personal experiences through my high school and college education people always want to be
right and never open their minds to explore how others see the topic. I see the world and most all
situations in life in an optimistic way, but so many people see life on the other side of the
spectrum which is pessimistic (Schultze &Badzinski, 2015). When a conversation is not able to
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clearly be seen both ways, I always give my attention but walk away without giving any reason
why I should give any focus to the conversation, but my genuineness of listening and accepting
the point of view of the individual who is speaking. During a conversation it is a good practice to
learn Empathetic Listening. Empathetic Listening is learning how to focus, learn to encourage,
and reflect. These are skills that are difficult to just develop that much be taught and learned.
Non-verbal communication is very helpful when trying to show empathy and warmth, because
body language can be a key indicator to if someone is interested in what another individual is
saying (France & Weikel, 2015). John 15:12 reads “This is my commandment, that you love one
another as I have loved you” (ESV).
In an old textbook it was said that “perception takes a picture through a lens, not a
window” (Stewart, 2012, p.163). With that it should always be the speaker and listeners
responsibility to demonstrate and this results in perceived learning. When I perceive aspects of a
conversation it is always good to have a complete reflection on the introspection to what could
be gained. Knowledge is endless and that is why when communicating and listening a person
must always give their full attention and that is another aspect to warmth and genuineness. So,
perception of not listening in human services is not acceptable because it is the fastest way to
lose respect. Luke 5:22 reads “When Jesus perceived their thoughts, he answered them, “Why do
you question in your heart” (ESV).
As a counselor a goal I set is always let my client be free and open with that is on their
mind. I never respond without thinking about the feelings of the client. Respect goes a very long
ways inside a client and counselor relationship. So, when look at clients it is never good to look
ahead and perceive who they are before meeting them. Client’s come to the counselor for
guidance, so before each day I pray for them all as a whole and myself to make sure that I give
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References
France, K. & Weikel, K. (2020). Helping skills for human service workers: Building
relationships and encouraging productive change (4th ed.). Charles C. Thomas Publisher
Inc. ISBN: 9780398093044.
Petersen, J. C. (2015). Why don’t we listen better? Communicating and connecting in
relationships (2nd ed.). Petersen Publications. ISBN: 9780979155956.
Schultze, Q. J. & Badzinski, D. M. (2015). An essential guide to interpersonal communication:
Building great relationships with faith, skill, and virtue in the age of social media. Baker
Academic. ISBN: 9780801038945.
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