A recent study highlights the significance of active-empathic listening as a critical skill for nursing students, who play a pivotal role in patient care. Researchers Özçılnak Ünver and Yüksel conducted an investigation into this communication approach, emphasizing its potential to enhance interactions between nurses and patients. The findings underscore the importance of fostering these skills during nursing education to improve overall healthcare delivery.

The research focuses on active-empathic listening, which involves attentively hearing, understanding, and responding to patients in a way that conveys empathy and support. This method is particularly relevant in the healthcare field, where effective communication can directly impact patient outcomes. The study suggests that incorporating training in active-empathic listening into nursing curricula could better prepare future nurses for their roles on the frontlines of patient interaction.

 by Muskan Gupta 

For decades, the business world has celebrated decisiveness, speed, and toughness - traits traditionally associated with male leadership. However, as workplaces evolve and expectations from leaders shift, a different quality is emerging as a quiet yet distinct differentiator: empathy. Empathy is no longer a soft attribute reserved for people management conversations. It is fast becoming one of the most powerful leadership advantages in business today, especially for men.

Why Empathy Is Especially Important for Men?

While empathy is essential for all leaders, Sen believes it carries particular significance for men, who often face social conditioning that equates strength with emotional distance.

"All of us need empathy, but among men, the need often becomes more critical because of the social pressure that pushes us to isolation," he explains. "Isolation weakens us, but empathy makes any two of us walk in as two 'me's' but leave as a one strong 'we'."

Session Description: Embark on a transformative journey with Project Empathy, a workshop designed to dismantle the stigmatization surrounding substance use disorders. Rooted in evidence-based practices, this innovative session provides a profound exploration of the neuroscience of addiction. By seamlessly integrating the latest research, we unveil barriers, shedding light on why current treatment models often fall short and leave a significant population unsupported.

Introducing solution-focused therapy, strength-based approaches, positive psychology, and empathy as potent tools, this workshop offers practical insights for incorporating these principles into a range of substance use disorder-related interactions. Whether in casual engagements or professional treatment methodologies, discover how to infuse empathy and positive intervention into every facet of your approach.

“The Rob Reiner thing is not funny, right? And that’s like the same thing. It’s the same kind of thinking. And when you see it with no empathy, that’s when it’s hard to like [him],” Rogan said of Trump during Thursday’s episode of “The Joe Rogan Experience.”

Introduction: Why Listening Matters More Than Ever in 2026
We live in an age where everyone wants to be heard, yet very few people truly listen. Notifications, short-form videos, endless meetings, and constant multitasking have quietly weakened one of the most essential human skills: active listening.

In 2026, communication is faster than ever, but understanding is not. This gap is exactly why active listening has become one of the most underrated—and valuable—skills of our time.

Some on the right have gone so far as to declare empathy a sin.

Most Americans do not agree with the notion that empathy is bad. In fact, we see it as a benefit to society.

In her December 27, 2025 column, Anita Chabria examines the growing political polarization around the concept of empathy, specifically focusing on how it has become a target in the "culture wars."

Key points of the article:

The "War" on Empathy: The column discusses how empathy—traditionally viewed as a universal virtue—is increasingly being framed by the political Right as a vulnerability or a vice.

Elon Musk's Influence: Chabria highlights Elon Musk as a primary driver of this narrative. She references his claims that empathy is a "fundamental weakness" and a "bug" in Western civilization that is being "weaponized" by the Left to destroy society (what he terms "civilizational suicide").

The Argument: The piece contrasts Musk's call for a cold, "civilizational" logic—which prioritizes the survival of the species or group over the suffering of individuals—with the traditional view that empathy is the essential glue of a functional, humane democracy.

Implications: The article suggests that labeling empathy as "dangerous" serves as an intellectual cover for cruelty, allowing people to dismiss the suffering of others (such as immigrants or the poor) as a necessary sacrifice for the greater good.

In short, the article asks whether we should view empathy as a suicidal weakness, as Musk suggests, or as the very thing that makes American society worth saving.

However, the Stanford study found that some simple interventions helped bridge the empathy perception gap.

The researchers surveyed over 5,000 students at the university and found that those who perceived their peers as more empathic reported better psychological well-being and a higher number of friends. However, the empathy perception gap also revealed itself, as students consistently perceived their peers to be less empathic and caring than those peers saw themselves.

To bridge that gap, researchers used the survey data to create posters with statistics like "95% of Stanford students are likely to help others who are feeling down," and "85% of Stanford students enjoy meeting and becoming friends with students they don't know." The posters were distributed in specific dorms and not in others.

What is Empathy Fatigue?
In my original definition of empathy fatigue, I suggested that this phenomenon results from a state of psychological, emotional, mental, physical, spiritual, and occupational exhaustion that occurs as the therapists’ wounds are continually revisited by their clients’ life stories of stress, traumatic stress, grief, loss, chronic illness, and disability. In my most recent work, Transcending Empathy Fatigue: Cultivating Empathy Resiliency https://cognella-titles-sneakpreviews.s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/84391-1A-URT/84391-1A_SP.pdf (2025, Cognella Publishing, sample chapter)

I comprehensively offer readers ways to identify, functionally assess, and develop a plan of self-care.

The Counselor Empathy Fatigue Scale (CEFS) and the Global Assessment of Empathy Fatigue Functioning (GAEF-III) are offered as in-depth measures of empathy fatigue and resiliency. For purposes of this article, I focus on the essential points which advocate for the importance of practitioners being mindful of how to achieve an optimal work-life balance with an emphasis on developing empathy, resiliency, and a plan of self-care.

For years, many criminal justice professionals have insisted that ‘empathy’ holds the key to successful rehabilitation. Reports, programmes, and assessments repeat the same lines: “Offender lacks empathy”; “Empathy must be developed before…”; “Empathy deficits drive risk.” 

But this tidy explanation doesn’t survive real scrutiny. In many cases, empathy is dragged into the conversation not because it explains anything, but because it is a convenient buzzword. It adds to a moral vocabulary that lets the professionals avoid uncomfortable truths about the individuals they’re managing, the offender’s true motivations, and perhaps even their own practices.

@Rob Volpe
This is my first-ever Naughty & Nice List for empathy — a reflection on where empathy showed up in 2025, where it fell short, and what both reveal about how we treat one another. I’m on both lists, because empathy is a practice, not a personality trait.

Despite the necessary focus on clinical skills and knowledge during the tertiary education of healthcare professionals, the literature highlights the importance of developing psycho-social competencies. Empathy, a cognitive-behavioral attribute linked to various benefits for patients and healthcare professionals, is one such competency.

Pedagogical approaches to successfully develop empathy in tertiary healthcare students are available. However, these approaches are often integrated piecemeal throughout the tertiary education journey. Research on a more empathy-focused curriculum is scarce. This manuscript describes the design of a study that aims to examine the effects of a more empathy-focused curriculum on empathy in tertiary healthcare profession students in Singapore. 

Active empathic listening (AEL) is a multi-dimensional, nonjudgmental type of listening that extends beyond the verbal message conveyed and includes understanding the inner world of the individual and consciously reflecting this understanding [1,2,3]. Thus, AEL establishes the basis of a relationship of trust and deepens interactions [4]. Within this context, AEL is not only a communication skill but also a multi-dimensional skill that encompasses interpersonal communication competence, emotional awareness, and professionalism [1, 5].

AEL was developed by Rogers and Farson in 1957 based on the person-centered approach and essentially goes beyond the words communicated, focusing on the emotions, experience, and self-understanding behind the words from the individual’s perspective. This type of interaction not only helps individuals move beyond defense mechanisms but also makes them feel safe and reveals their capacity for change and development in a meaningful relationship. Because this relationship is mutual, it initiates a process of mutual transformation through developing self-awareness in both the speaker and listener [1]. Within this context, the value of AEL becomes even more apparent when considering nursing students preparing for their profession, which focuses on each person’s uniqueness and involves constant interaction. From this, the communication process reaches into the speaker’s inner world to ensure mutual interaction [1].

In the ever-evolving world of healthcare, effective communication has become a cornerstone of effective patient care. Recent research emphasizes the importance of a skill set known as active-empathic listening, particularly among nursing students, who are on the frontlines of patient interaction. A new study led by Özçılnak Ünver and Yüksel has scrutinized the active-empathic listening scale, shedding light on its reliability and validity in nursing education. This study, soon to be published in the BMC Nursing journal, aims to fortify the essential role that listening plays in fostering patient-provider relationships.

Active-empathic listening goes beyond merely hearing what is said; it is an intricate engagement involving understanding, interpreting, and responding to patient emotions and needs. The foundations of this listening style rest on the principle that empathetic understanding can lead not only to greater patient satisfaction but also to improved health outcomes. By developing this skill, nursing students can enhance their ability to support patients during their most vulnerable moments.

Rabbi Angela Buchdahl leads the largest synagogue in New York City. But she says she’s never been so afraid to talk about Israel. That’s because she thinks that compassion for people suffering on either side of the war in Gaza has come to be seen as disloyal and even threatening – a zero sum empathy calculus that also applies to ideological battles fought in our country every day.

Buchdahl is the first Asian American to be ordained a rabbi, a journey she describes in her new memoir “Heart of a Stranger: An Unlikely Rabbi’s Story of Faith, Identity, and Belonging.” We listen back to our conversation with her about why knowing what it feels like to be an outsider has helped her enable connection among people with disparate views and what happens when we become incapable of empathy.

By @Faddi Shaikh

Empathy in Technology Leadership
Empathy in leadership is about recognizing and responding to the needs, challenges, and perspectives of others. In technology companies, where work is often high-pressure and fast-moving, leaders who understand their teams’ experiences create environments where employees feel safe to share ideas, admit mistakes, and take initiative.

At Cortavo, this principle is woven into daily practices. Leaders listen actively during meetings, check in regularly with employees, and consider personal and professional contexts when making decisions. By prioritizing these human factors alongside technical and operational objectives, the company reduces stress, builds trust, and strengthens engagement.

Empathetic leaders are more aware of the impacts of their decisions on various stakeholder groups as they have invested the time to better understand them, sometimes on numerous occasions or for significant amounts of time.

They become more skilled at understanding others and more attuned to different stakeholder perspectives.

Empathy allows us to build relationships beyond rapport. It allows us to build deep, trusting relationships that can be the catalysts for transformational change.

Narrative 4, whose vision is to make empathy and connections a cornerstone of Irish education and community life,, has reached out to 23,436 young people across Ireland, trained over 1,000 facilitators with 40% of post primary schools having one or more teachers trained to make empathy and connection a cornerstone of Irish education and community life.

Colum is very passionate about this and firmly believes that story exchanges which take place in schools, community and youth centres, online, nursing homes and prisons helps build a bridge to greater empathy understanding. The organisation has introduced an Empathy School Award which is presented to post primary schools that excel in student wellbeing by creating a culture of empathy, kindness, connection and understanding.

The article argues that empathy shouldn’t be reduced to mere sympathy, agreement, or emotional reaction, but is best understood through a lens of respect and human dignity. According to the author, the core of empathy is recognizing and honoring another person’s inherent worth—treating people in a way that acknowledges their dignity rather than pitying them. This means truly seeing others as full human beings with their own agency and individuality, not just as objects of feeling or rescue

Patients may not be trained in empathy, but as physicians, we must lead by example. As physicians, we often jump to what we feel is the obvious solution but know that this solution may be masking any number of other conditions to which the patient has a better view. It means listening to how residents and attendings are responding to patients in person, on the phone, and through patient portals, pulling out the judgmental comments, be they real or imagined on behalf of the physician, and replacing them with how WE would want to be spoken to.

When we watch someone move, get injured, or express emotion, our brain doesn’t just see it—it partially feels it. Researchers found eight body-like maps in the visual cortex that organize what we see in the same way the brain organizes touch. These maps help us instantly understand actions, emotions, and intentions in others. The discovery sheds light on human empathy and opens doors for new brain-based therapies and AI systems that better understand the body.

The Myth of the “Empathy Deficit”

The old medical model of Autism claimed that autistic people lacked “Theory of Mind”—the ability to imagine what another person is thinking or feeling. This led to the damaging stereotype that autistic partners are cold, robotic, or uncaring.

This is false.

In 2012, researcher Dr. Damian Milton proposed the Double Empathy Problem. His theory, now backed by extensive studies, posits that:

1. Autistic people understand other Autistic people perfectly well.

2. Neurotypical people understand other Neurotypical people perfectly well.

3. The breakdown only happens when the two groups try to communicate with each other.

It is not a deficit on one side; it is a mismatch between two valid communication styles.

Think of it like PC vs. Mac. neither operating system is “broken,” but if you try to run a Mac program on a PC without an emulator, it will crash. In your relationship, you are crashing because you are judging your partner’s “software” by your own operating system’s rules.

Empathy — more than a soft skill

Far from being a “soft skill,” empathy is a well-researched concept in social psychology, grounded in decades of evidence. “Empathy is a very well-studied construct in my field of social psychology. It’s comprised of three components: feeling, cognitive and compassion,” said Brady. “When we see a colleague who’s sad, it can change our own mood. Empathy drives us to understand what they’re feeling — and compassion asks whether we’re motivated to help.” 

Empathy is a critical skill from day one. By understanding the other side’s interests and priorities, you build trust and uncover common ground — the foundation for innovative solutions.