1. Summary: How Cognitive Empathy is Defined
Understanding - another's perspective or mental state
Imagining
Perspective-taking - the capacity to put oneself in another’s shoes
Identification - The intellectual ability to identify and understand another person's emotions
others
Knowing - what someone else might be feeling or thinking, without necessarily feeling it yourself
Mental Simulation - Mental simulation of others’ thoughts and intentions (Theory of Mind)
Theory of Mind
2. In Depth: How Cognitive Empathy is defined.
1. Understanding
Understanding another's perspective or mental state
Cognitive empathy involves understanding another person's mental state or perspective without necessarily sharing their emotions. It requires "having complete and accurate knowledge about the contents of another person's mind, including how the person feels." This type of empathy is more like a skill that humans develop to recognize and understand others' emotional states.
Understanding" in this context is about achieving a functional and reasonably accurate working model of the other's mental state, not an infallible insight.
In essence, "understanding" in cognitive empathy is the capacity to build a mental model of another person's subjective experience, allowing you to predict and explain their behavior and to interact with them more effectively. It's a skill that can be developed and honed through conscious effort, active listening, and a willingness to consider perspectives beyond your own.
2. Imagination - (Imaginative Empathy)
we are imagining what it might be like to actually be this person in their situation
(There are different forms of imagining, - imagine self, imagine other)
3. Perspective-Taking - (Imaginative Empathy)
The ability to understand another person's thoughts, emotions, and perspectives without necessarily sharing them. This is a form of imagining.
Is empathy Perspective-Taking the same as imagining? gemini
"while imagination is the foundational ability to create mental representations, empathy perspective-taking is a specific, socially-oriented application of that ability, aimed at understanding the inner world of another. "
Example: A therapist recognizes that a client is anxious about a life change but does not personally feel the anxiety.
When we practice cognitive empathy, we are practicing taking the perspective of another person. In essence, we are imagining what it might be like to actually be this person in their situation. Cognitive empathy is also referred to as perspective-taking, which lends itself to the idea of putting ourselves in someone else's shoes. Very Well Mind
is understanding what someone else is going through without necessarily feeling anything for them.
Key Theorists:
Simon Baron-Cohen,
C. Daniel Batson,
Jean Decety
4. Identification - The intellectual ability to identify and understand another person's emotions
”It is now understood to mean both the effortful, cognitive process by which a person projects themself into another’s situation and point of view, and to the unconscious (and at times unwelcome) affective process by which another person’s emotions can influence or even take over one’s own” Julia Carrie Wong
Loathe thy neighbor: Elon Musk and the Christian right are waging war on empathy
The Guardian Tue 8 Apr 2025
5. Knowing - what someone else might be feeling or thinking, without necessarily feeling it yourself
6. Mental Simulation - Mental simulation of others’ thoughts and intentions (Theory of Mind)
Reference Papers and Article
Definitions
Definition 1: Perceiving and Understanding Emotions: At its core, cognitive empathy describes the ability of an individual to accurately perceive and comprehend the emotional states experienced by another person.1
Definition 2: Accurate Knowledge of Another's Mind: Expanding on the idea of understanding emotions, cognitive empathy, often referred to as empathic accuracy, involves a more thorough and correct understanding of another person's internal mental world, encompassing their feelings, thoughts, and perspectives.1
Definition 3: Perspective-Taking (Understanding Another's Experience): A prevalent definition of cognitive empathy describes it as the ability to understand another person's experience by actively imagining oneself in their situation, thereby gaining insight into their feelings and thoughts.1
Definition 4: Constructing a Working Model of Emotional States: Cognitive empathy is also conceptualized as the ability to actively construct a mental representation or "working model" of the emotional states of others, which importantly involves comprehending their emotional experience.13
Definition 5: Rational Understanding of Perspective: Cognitive empathy facilitates a rational or intellectual understanding of another person's perspective, including their thoughts, feelings, and overall viewpoint, without necessarily requiring the individual to share their emotional experience.3
Definition 6: Equated with Affective Theory of Mind (Mentalizing Emotions): In the realm of social cognitive neuroscience, cognitive empathy is frequently equated with affective theory of mind, which refers to the ability to mentalize or understand the emotions and affective states of others.19
Definition 7: Inferring Thoughts or Beliefs (Cognitive Perspective-Taking): Cognitive empathy, sometimes used synonymously with cognitive perspective-taking, involves the capacity to infer the thoughts, beliefs, and intentions of another agent.31
Definition 8: Modeling Emotional States: Cognitive empathy is also defined as the ability to internally model or represent the emotional states of others, allowing for an understanding of their feelings without necessarily experiencing those feelings oneself.32
Definition 9: Detached Understanding (Without Emotional Resonance): Cognitive empathy can be characterized as a form of understanding that involves a degree of detachment, enabling an individual to comprehend another's experiences without necessarily evoking a personal emotional response or feeling the same emotion.21
Definition 10: Ability to Predict Behavior Based on Mental States: Cognitive empathy plays a crucial role in social interaction by enabling individuals to represent and understand what other people are thinking and feeling, which in turn helps predict and interpret their behaviors.3
Key Points
Research suggests cognitive empathy is understanding others' perspectives without feeling their emotions, with various definitions emphasizing perspective-taking.
It seems likely that cognitive empathy involves knowing how others think and feel, often through intellect and imagination.
The evidence leans toward cognitive empathy being crucial for communication, with practices like Empathy Circles helping express it.
There is some controversy around whether cognitive empathy always leads to positive outcomes, as it can be used in harmful ways, like by manipulators.
Definitions of Cognitive Empathy
Cognitive empathy is defined in multiple ways, focusing on understanding others' mental states and perspectives. Here are ten key definitions, each highlighting a different aspect:
Understanding another person's perspective without feeling their emotions.
The ability to understand others' mental states.
Knowing how others think and feel without necessarily feeling it oneself.
Understanding another person's mental state.
Perspective-taking: identifying and understanding other people’s emotions.
Putting yourself in someone else's place to see their perspective without engaging with their emotions.
Understanding how a person feels and what they might be thinking.
Understanding others' emotions through intellect and willingness to learn about the person.
Rationally understanding another person's thoughts, feelings, and perspective.
Taking the mental perspective of others to make inferences about their mental or emotional states.
These definitions come from sources like Lesley University, Wikipedia, and Verywellmind, among others, showing a broad consensus in psychological research.