Empathy & Emotion Definition

Empathy

1. Direct identification with, understanding of, and vicarious experience of another person's situation, feelings, and motives.
2. The projection of one's own feelings or emotional state onto an object or animal.

"empathy." The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company. 02 Jun. 2007. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/empathy>.


Emotion

1. A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling: the emotions of joy, sorrow, reverence, hate, and love.

"emotion." The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 03 Jun. 2007. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/emotion>.