Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → Empathy
Option (1) Sympathy — Incorrect. In sympathy, one has compassion and pity towards the suffering of another but is not able to feel like the other person. The question asks for feeling the same as the other person, which sympathy lacks.
Option (2) Compassion — Incorrect. Compassion is the kind concern and pity one feels for someone who suffers. It is part of sympathy and does not mean feeling things from the other person’s side.
Option (3) Empathy — Correct. Empathy is present when one is able to understand the plight of another person, and feel like the other person. It means understanding things from the other person’s perspective, putting oneself in the other person’s shoes; a therapist has empathy for the client.
Option (4) Insight — Incorrect. Insight is a person’s understanding of her or his own problems. In psychodynamic therapy, emotional insight is present when the client understands her/his conflicts, accepts them emotionally and changes her/his emotions towards them. It concerns oneself, not another person’s plight.
Note: A similar question was also asked in CUET (UG) 2023 on 30-05-2023 (Slot 2).
NCERT (2025-26): “Therapeutic Relationship … The therapist has empathy for the client. Empathy is different from sympathy and intellectual understanding of another person’s situation. In sympathy, one has compassion and pity towards the suffering of another but is not able to feel like the other person. Intellectual understanding is cold in the sense that the person is unable to feel like the other person and does not feel sympathy either. On the other hand, empathy is present when one is able to understand the plight of another person, and feel like the other person. It means understanding things from the other person’s perspective, i.e. putting oneself in the other person’s shoes.…” |