This week I wanted to talk about empathy, and specifically all those AI-generated doll templates you’ve been seeing over the last week or so.
Why empathy isn’t just about feeling sad for others?
When people think of empathy, they usually picture a person caring for other people. Someone who is relating to someone in need and comforting them with kind words or sage advice.
“I’m so empathic!” the saintly martyr shouts as they succumb to the weight of their own beautiful positivity.
Sure, that’s a type of empathy. But what empathy actually is, is removing yourself from your own limited perspective and just checking in to see how other people might feel.
What does this have to do with AI-generated dolls?
Lots of people in my feed did cute little AI generated dolls this week. Some were fun, some were weird, and all were inoffensive. But with every wave that laps up on a beach comes the pull of the wave as it returns to the ocean. Later in the week, I had lots of people complaining that their feeds were full of these awful AI generated dolls and they hate them.
Now, the next thing I will write is something that is based on both personal experience as a business consultant, and an incredibly small, algorithm induced sample size. But the majority, if not all, of those complaining were men.
Empathy is about getting into other people’s head and seeing the other side. Importantly, you then take that information and hopefully see the world differently. Getting angry about dolls and feeling the need to complain about it, at least to me, is a lack of empathy. Because if one had empathy, you could dismiss it as a little fun.
But it raised a different question. Is empathy gender-biased?
Is empathy gender biased?
The report states that empathy involves both emotional and cognitive dimensions, including the ability to perceive and understand another person’s feelings and viewpoint. It is crucial for moral development, maintaining positive interpersonal relationships, and facilitating societal cohesion.
Women show higher levels of empathy compared to men. Various studies consistently observe this difference.
Interestingly, despite women having higher overall empathy, the association between empathy and forgiveness was stronger in men. Specifically, empathy significantly predicted forgiving behaviours and cognitions among men but did not show a strong predictive relationship for forgiveness in women.
The authors suggest that, while women have higher empathic ability, empathy may not be their primary motivator for forgiveness. Men, having lower baseline empathy, may rely more strongly on empathy to reach forgiveness.
The research shows that empathy is essential in the forgiveness process, but highlights that this relationship is more nuanced than initially assumed because of differences between men and women.
This study suggests practical implications for clinicians and therapists: increasing empathy may effectively facilitate forgiveness in men, while clinicians and therapists might need to address motivational factors beyond empathy in women.
Step inside, and step away
Empathy allows us to relate. Empathy allows us to confront our own feelings by using another as the mirror. Most importantly, Empathy gives us a chance to understand.
Whether it’s in the workplace, or on the fake workplace of LinkedIn, being able to go “I don’t like that, but someone else does, and if it lifts them up, then let them have it with love,” is a positive thing in my book.
This can work for work-from-home policy, leadership skills, and even AI generated dolls.
Find out more about how we help others here.
With love, always.