Chapter published in:
How Emotions Are Made in Talk
Edited by Jessica S. Robles and Ann Weatherall
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 321] 2021
► pp. 189–210

Chapter 3.1
Responding empathically from shifting epistemic terrains

| University of Sheffield
| Rutgers University
The aim of this chapter is to explore empathy as an interactional (rather than internal psychological) phenomenon across a range of settings, both mundane and institutional. Building upon earlier research, we first establish a working definition of empathic utterances as those which make a claim about another person’s mental or emotional state that is contingent upon that person’s confirmation (e.g. It’s frustrating isn’t it?). We then proceed to explore a series of such utterances drawn from a call between two sisters, a child protection helpline, a doctor-patient palliative care interaction, and an emotion-focused therapy session. This comparative approach shows that, while our initial definition of empathy remains consistent across these settings, the epistemic implications, role, and design of empathy differ between them.
Keywords: empathy, sympathy, emotion, crying, conversation analysis, helpline, palliative care, emotion-focused therapy
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Empathy practices in interaction
  • 3.Methods
  • 4.Analysis
    • 4.1Defining empathy
    • 4.2Empathic responses to upset in different environments
    • 4.3Empathy in palliative care: Orientations to epistemic access
    • 4.4Empathy in emotion-focused therapy
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 May 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.321.07for
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