EN
Get the appGet the app
12questions
💞 Empathy3 min

Empathy quiz: 12 questions with answers

Question 1 of 12Correct: 0
🪞 From “Why Someone Else's Pain Hits Your Body”1 / 12

Why does someone else's pain feel like a diffuse "unbearable" feeling?

Questions from 6 articles

Each one takes 2 minutes to read. Stuck on a question? Peek at the article.

Why Someone Else's Pain Hits Your Bodyin the app0/2Why Empathy Drains Youin the app0/2How the identifiable victim effect works0/2Can You Build Empathy?0/2How compassion differs from empathy0/2What Is the Empathy Gap?in the app0/2

A quiz after every article

In the app, a quiz like this follows every article, and every read grows your streak and level.

Download on theApp StoreGet it onGoogle Play
Answers and explanations12 questions
  1. Why does someone else's pain feel like a diffuse "unbearable" feeling? Your brain replays its emotional weightSomeone else's pain activates areas that register "this is bad," not the exact spot of the prick.From “Why Someone Else's Pain Hits Your Body”
  2. What can help you leave the bodily response to someone else's pain? Name the response and lengthen your exhaleSeparating your pain from theirs, relaxing your posture, and a longer exhale help your body leave replay mode.From “Why Someone Else's Pain Hits Your Body”
  3. Why can someone else's hard story leave you feeling empty? Your brain experiences it almost like your own painWhen you empathize deeply, your body and brain respond to someone else's trouble almost as if it were your own.From “Why Empathy Drains You”
  4. What helps you avoid becoming a second victim in a hard talk? Name the feeling and ask what they need nowNaming the feeling, noticing your body, and asking what they need helps you stay beside their pain, not inside it.From “Why Empathy Drains You”
  5. How does willingness to help change as the number of victims grows? It drops when the number rises from one to twoYou can picture one person, but not a million, so an abstraction takes the place of an image.From “How the identifiable victim effect works”
  6. What happens when statistics are added to one person's story? The response becomes weakerNumbers seem to switch off the compassion already felt for a specific person.From “How the identifiable victim effect works”
  7. What best helps you understand someone else's state more accurately? Ask and hear the answerImagination substitutes your model of the person, while a short question lets you check your guess.From “Can You Build Empathy?”
  8. Why is it better not to start an important conversation on the run? Rushing reduces your ability to respondWhen you're rushed and have a lot on your mind, almost no attention remains for someone else's state.From “Can You Build Empathy?”
  9. How does compassion differ from empathy? Her state matters, but your feeling stays your ownWith compassion, you care, but you keep your own state - warmth and a desire to help.From “How compassion differs from empathy”
  10. What helps you avoid personal distress over someone else's trouble? Remember: it's her state, as ifThe "as if" boundary helps you feel her state without losing the distinction between her feelings and yours.From “How compassion differs from empathy”
  11. Why do you underestimate tomorrow's hunger or fear when you're calm? Your brain uses your current state as a reference pointYour brain builds another state from your current one and usually adjusts too little.From “What Is the Empathy Gap?”
  12. What can help you understand a loved one who's anxious right now? Ask what feels hardest and what would helpFrom a calm state, someone else's anxiety is hard to see, so a specific description is more reliable than your own guess.From “What Is the Empathy Gap?”