Under the umbrella: components of empathy in psychology and design

Abstract

Empathy is argued to be a key factor for a successful design discussion. However, such causality cannot be empirically proven based on how empathy is currently defined in design community. Empathy is used as an umbrella construct, broad and encompassing of diverse phenomena, making it difficult to quantify. We suggest improving such a situation by introducing a definition of empathy based on psychology literature, which provides structure and guidance for studying the role of empathy in design. We first break empathy to components. Then, we review empathy as used in design. Finally, we synthetize the reviewed material. From this synthesis, we conclude that empathy in design shares several key components of empathy in psychology; particularly with state influences, top-down control process and emotional stimuli. These are present in design methods although they have not been studied using such terms. Incorporating psychological components of empathy into design can help conceptualising empathy from a different angle, thus opening interesting new avenues for future research. We hope that our treatment provides present and future designers with some useful guidance.

Automatic Facial Expression Analysis as a Measure of User-Designer Empathy

“…Researchers believe that affective empathy is more automatic, while identifying cognitive elements help re-modulate affective elements that we have identified [16]. Chang-Arana et al [7] showed how the different aspects of empathy identified elsewhere do not map well to how it is understood in design, further complicating measuring empathy in design.…”

“…The complexity stems from the fact that empathy is an umbrella term [7], which covers many different aspects of what different people and areas of research call empathy. In psychology, there are many different definitions and aspects of it, such as affective and cognitive empathy, conscious and unconscious empathy, perspective-taking, and emotional contagion [8].…”

“…In psychology, there are many different definitions and aspects of it, such as affective and cognitive empathy, conscious and unconscious empathy, perspective-taking, and emotional contagion [8]. Chang-Arana et al [7] showed how these terms do not map well to how design research discusses empathy. Surma-Aho and Hölttä-Otto [9] conceptualized empathy in the context of design (Fig.…”

The EmpathiCH Workshop: Unraveling Empathy-Centric Design

“…Empathy is often defined as "the intuitive ability to identify with other people's thoughts and feelings -their motivations, emotional and mental models, values, priorities, preferences, and inner conflicts" [23], which means going beyond "knowing the user" and understanding how "it feels like" to be that person [17,43]. Due to the interdisciplinary research interest it triggers, we acknowledge the richness and diversity of perspectives on the concept of empathy, both regarding its dimensions or underlying components (see Chang-Arana et al [4] for a recent comprehensive review in design). Empathy in Design and HCI is mainly explained through the prism of methods.…”

“…For decades, scholars have studied how developing empathic relationships between designers and users results in better products or services [43], through design methods, conceptualization [4,37], and the development of design frameworks [13,18,36]. However, empathic boundaries are blurred and debatable [14,15].…”