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.

Empathy Is Not Just Kindness — It’s Presence
Empathy is not something we do occasionally. It’s a way of being with children.

It isn’t:
solving everything for them
shielding them from all discomfort
forcing them to act “normally”
giving in so they don’t cry

Empathy is:
being available
staying calm even when they can’t
listening without trying to control
validating their experience
understanding the world from their level
 

In a contested world, is there still space for empathy? What role can empathy play in improving politics and leadership – and what does it demand of those in politics, and us as citizens?

Join Claire Yorke whose new book 'Empathy in Politics and Leadership: The Key to Transforming our World' (Yale University Press, 2025) articulates not only the value of empathy, but also some the challenges it presents. Drawing on examples from around the world, she examines how it can present a challenge to the status quo, and offer a path to more effective politics, and better ways to engage in our communities.

Speakers: Dr Claire Yorke

Find out more: https://www.lse.ac.uk/school-of-public-policy/events/2025-26/can-empathy-really-transform-politics-and-leadership

"by Hebrew University of Jerusalem

We tend to think accuracy is the gold standard in emotional understanding," says Prof. Perry. "But our research suggests that a bit of bias, believing others feel more strongly than they do, can actually promote empathy and strengthen social bonds."

Ultimately, this study sheds light on one of the most fundamental aspects of social life, how we read one another's emotions. It suggests that human connection isn't built solely on accuracy, but on a delicate balance between perception, empathy, and a little bit of emotional imagination.

Despite the urgent need to improve social connection, practical evidence-based recommendations on how to do so during daily interactions are lacking. One key behavior theorized to facilitate social connection is high-quality listening, yet behavioral evidence is limited. Across two pre-registered studies, we tested whether observed high-quality listening behaviors during conversations between strangers are associated with behavioral and subjective markers of social connection, and whether listening behaviors account for the effectiveness of simple interventions aimed at increasing social connection.

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. 

41: Invitation to be an Empathy Movement Summit Speaker

Are power and empathy incompatible? Dr. Claire Yorke joins the "Values & Interests" podcast to discuss her new book, "Empathy in Politics and Leadership." Yorke showcases real-life examples of leaders who embraced empathy to build more inclusive power structures while simultaneously avoiding the politically disastrous trap of blind idealism. The episode unpacks zero-sum versus more inclusive models of power, the distinction between cognitive and emotional empathy, and why moral leadership grounded in empathy is necessary but insufficient on its own for open societies to thrive.

Dr. Claire Yorke a senior lecturer at Deakin University, based in Canberra, and the author of "Empathy in Politics and Leadership" published by Yale University (2025).

For more, go to: https://www.carnegiecouncil.co/values-interests-yorke

This global conversation will focus on strategies to promote empathy in order to create engaged global citizens and more peaceful societies.

Empathy, the ability to understand and share the feelings of others, is a key skill for adolescent development, driving social connectedness, promoting wellbeing, employability and educational attainment.

However, recent evidence, shows that the rates of empathic response among young people globally may be declining. Worldwide, ideological polarisation and social tensions are apparent with a marked increase in hate speech, violence, and intolerance alongside a growth in polarised societies and extremism.

Promoting empathy as a core skill and behaviour is increasingly put forward as a practical antidote to such problems, reducing the level of bullying, hatred and intolerance. This global conversation will focus on strategies to promote empathy in order to create engaged global citizens and more peaceful societies alongside improved well-being and mental health with young people more ready to forge paths through adulthood, in work, life attainment, and as active agents of social justice in their communities.