Empathy is nothing someone either has or hasn’t. It is a skill that, through practice, can be improved over time. Therefore, empathy can have different shapes and expressions. “The Empathy Spectrum” symbolises this understanding of empathy. In some situations we experience a lack of empathy, in others we feel just fine with the given or received amount of empathy, and sometimes we can even give too much of it. How much empathy is needed depends on the situation. How much empathy can be given depends on one’s individual capacities. “The EmpathySpectrum” is both a conversation starter and a visualisation tool for other tasks, e.g. “window and mirror” and “beEmpathy?”.

 

Students can discuss questions like:

 

What is at the ends of the spectrum?
What are the grey areas in between?
How could the different levels of empathy be described?
How do you know how much empathy is needed?
Looking at a certain situation, where in the spectrum does it belong?