Sympathy  

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 +[[Image:Bouguereau Innocence.jpg|thumb|200px|[[Innocence]] ([[1893]]) by [[William-Adolphe Bouguereau]]: Both young [[children]] and [[lamb]]s are symbols of innocence]]
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-:"To name a [[sensibility]], to draw its contours and to recount its history, requires a deep [[sympathy]] modified by [[revulsion]]." --Susan Sontag, ''[[Notes on Camp]]'', 1964 
- +'''Sympathy''' is an emotional affinity in which whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other, and its synonym is pity. ''Sympathy'' comes from the [[Latin]] sympatha, from [[Greek language|Greek]]: συμπάθεια transliterated as ''sympatheia'', from [[συν]] + [[πάσχω]] = συμπάσχω literally: ''to suffer together'' also: affected by like feelings or emotion. Thus the essence of sympathy is that a person's feelings reflect or are like those of another or that a person ''suffers'' as a response to, or because of, another person's ''suffering''.
-'''Sympathy''' is an emotional affinity in which whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other, and its synonym is pity. ''Sympathy'' comes from the [[Latin]] sympatha, from [[Greek language|Greek]]: συμπάθεια transliterated as ''sympatheia'', from συν + πάσχω = συμπάσχω literally: ''to suffer together'' also: affected by like feelings or emotion. Thus the essence of sympathy is that a person's feelings reflect or are like those of another or that a person ''suffers'' as a response to, or because of, another person's ''suffering''.+
Sympathy exists when the feelings or [[emotions]] of one person give rise to similar feelings in another person, creating a state of shared feeling. Sympathy exists when the feelings or [[emotions]] of one person give rise to similar feelings in another person, creating a state of shared feeling.
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In a broader sense, it can refer to the sharing of political or [[ideology|ideological]] sentiments, such as in the phrase "a [[communism|communist]] sympathiser". In a broader sense, it can refer to the sharing of political or [[ideology|ideological]] sentiments, such as in the phrase "a [[communism|communist]] sympathiser".
-The [[psychology|psychological]] state of sympathy is closely linked with that of [[empathy]], but is not identical to it. Empathy refers to the ability to perceive and directly experientially feel another person's emotions as they feel them, but makes no statement as to how they are viewed. Sympathy, by contrast, implies a degree of equal feeling, that is, the sympathiser views the matter similarly to how the person themselves does. It thus implies concern, or care or a wish to alleviate negative feelings others are experiencing.+The [[psychology|psychological]] state of sympathy is closely linked with that of [[empathy]], but is not identical to it.
- +
-Thus it is possible to be:+
-* '''Empathic but not sympathetic''', by internally experiencing another's feeling but not being motivated to alleviating action as a result.+
-* '''Sympathetic but not empathic''' by realising (perhaps [[cognition|cognitively]]) someone is upset and wanting to alleviate that, but not experiencing their sense of upset directly and internally as an [[emotional]] state within themselves (eg, a person at a help desk who sees another in distress, does not feel distress themselves, but tries to find what is wrong and help them anyway). +
- +
==See also== ==See also==
 +*[[Elective Affinities]]
 +*[[Empathy]]
 +*[[Pity]]
 +*[[Compassion]]
 +*[[Emotional intelligence]]
 +*[[Sympathism]]
 +*[[Chemical affinities]]
 +*[[Love theory]]
 +*[[Sympathetic character]]
-*[[empathy]]+==Namesakes==
-*[[condonance]]+*[[Sympathy for the Devil (disambiguation)|Sympathy for the Devil]]
-*[[condolences]]+
-*[[pity]]+
-*[[compassion]]+
-*[[acceptance]]+
-*[[Like#As a verb|liking]]+
-*[[emotional intelligence]]+
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Innocence (1893) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau: Both young children and lambs are symbols of innocence
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Innocence (1893) by William-Adolphe Bouguereau: Both young children and lambs are symbols of innocence

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Sympathy is an emotional affinity in which whatever affects one correspondingly affects the other, and its synonym is pity. Sympathy comes from the Latin sympatha, from Greek: συμπάθεια transliterated as sympatheia, from συν + πάσχω = συμπάσχω literally: to suffer together also: affected by like feelings or emotion. Thus the essence of sympathy is that a person's feelings reflect or are like those of another or that a person suffers as a response to, or because of, another person's suffering.

Sympathy exists when the feelings or emotions of one person give rise to similar feelings in another person, creating a state of shared feeling. In common usage, sympathy is usually the sharing of unhappiness or suffering, but it can also refer to sharing other (positive) emotions as well. In a broader sense, it can refer to the sharing of political or ideological sentiments, such as in the phrase "a communist sympathiser".

The psychological state of sympathy is closely linked with that of empathy, but is not identical to it.

See also

Namesakes




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Sympathy" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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