At the risk of sounding incredibly nerdy, this week’s focus on empathy as it pertains to User Experience Design compelled me to think of a character on “Star Trek: The Next Generation” (the series with Patrick Stewart, not William Shatner). There is a character, Deanna Troi, who serves as the U.S.S. Enterprise’s ship counselor - essentially a therapist and source of guidance for the ship’s leaders. What makes her particularly strong in this counselor role is the fact that Troi is an empath; a semi-telepathic being who is able to use her empathic abilities to better understand and even take on the emotions of another person. Troi’s empathic abilities are not only used to benefit her ‘patients’ but are occasionally used to put the crew into the mindset of its enemies leading up to a space battle.
Beyond the fictional world, the concept of empathy is something I think about often in almost any environment I’m in (unlike Troi though, I don’t have the advantage of telepathy to make the job of exercising empathy easier). As a marketer, I am constantly thinking about what imaging and content will most resonate with my target audiences; as a writer, I must put myself in the shoes of my readers to ensure that what I’m saying is clear, concise, yet engaging at the same time; as a job hunter, I’ve had to put myself in the mindset of a professional whose skills and expertise the company simply can’t go without; and as an occasional performer, I try to think about the truths I want to convey to my audience and how to best express those truths in a compelling way. In his short video “The Power of Outrospection,” author and philosopher Roman Krznaric breaks down how the practice of empathy has shifted over the last few generations and why it is a valuable artform today. In the 20th century, Krznaric says, there was the notion that “The best way to discover who we are and what to do with our lives was to look inside ourselves.” But in the 21st century, he feels that that mentality has shifted; rather than introspection, the “ultimate artform” was become empathy, or outrospection. Kznaric identifies two definitions that psychologists have given empathy. The first is affective empathy, which is a shared or mirrored emotional response. For example, an image of a desolate-looking refugee camp would most likely make the view feel devastated, a feeling those enduring the war are all-too familiar with. Cognitive empathy, on the other hand, involves stepping into another person’s worldview to see and feel things the way that person does - even if the one practicing cognitive empathy cannot fully resonate with those viewpoints and feelings. In short, Kznaric’s definition of cognitive empathy is being able to “Know thyself … [which] can be achieved by stepping outside of oneself.” In their article “Empathy on the Edge,” authors Katja Battarbee, Jane Fulton Suri, and Suzanne Gibbs Howard similarly discuss the importance of empathy as it pertains to design. They write: “Putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes—a part of our subconscious behavior—causes measurable changes in our cognitive style, increasing our so-called field-dependent thinking. This type of thinking helps us put information in context and pick up contextual cues from the environment, which is essential when we’re seeking to understand how things relate to one another, literally and figuratively ... this empathetic behavior personally motivates us to solve design challenges.” In other words, the art of putting oneself into another person’s shoes challenges the designer to think more critically and logically about what problems a user may encounter, empathize with that user, and embody both compassion and motivation to solve those issues. Although the article’s authors say that empathy is something that may come naturally to most people, it can be difficult for people who hold certain roles (specifically in the corporate sector) to resonate with the challenges their intended customers face. What designers, CEOs, and the like may find game-changing is connecting the data that they observe with their products to the experiences of their users. Essentially, putting a name and face to data. With consistent practice, empathy is something that can, as cheesy as it sounds, change the world. Many of us work in creative fields that require diving into the user mindset to predict and solve problems before they happen, create a positive user experience, and change the user’s behaviors for the better. Empathy is more than simply acknowledging another’s perspective; it compels us to think about how we can make an environment easier to live in, more sustainable, and more enjoyable for someone else for the long-term. Who knows; if every professional environment (design-focused or not, human resources or management roles, the medical field or the creative arts) employed more empathy both in its relationships with consumers and the people who create products, these businesses might boldly go where no man (or few businesses) has gone before.
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