Is It Possible to Teach Empathy in Design?
Empathy has emerged as a buzzword in the field of design, especially within methodologies like Design Thinking. In this context, it stands out as an essential stage for creating user-centered solutions. But is it really possible to teach empathy as a skill in design? Are more empathetic people naturally better designers? These questions have led me to reflect on what it means to empathize and how this concept applies to design practice.
In the Design Thinking process, empathy is presented as a crucial phase at the beginning of the research process. This stage involves putting oneself in the user’s shoes to understand their needs, desires, and difficulties. The goal is to capture people’s perspectives to design solutions that truly solve their problems and enhance their experience. Empathy, in this sense, is proposed as a key stage for creating products and services that are relevant to the user’s needs. Empathy is so relevant in design that we have exclusive tools that supposedly reflect what we capture from the user after empathizing with them (e.g., empathy maps).
But is filling out an empathy map enough to say we empathize with the user? What does it really mean to empathize, this act of “putting ourselves in someone else’s shoes”? According to Daniel Goleman, there are three types of empathy. Cognitive empathy is the ability to understand another person’s perspective or mental state. Emotional empathy, on the other hand, is the ability to share another person’s feelings. Finally, compassionate empathy is the highest level of empathy, as it goes a step further, driving a person to take action to help, thus benefiting others.
With these definitions, I question whether we truly engage with all types of empathy in the design process. This would imply that all designers are highly sensitive to others’ emotions, not just their needs. Therefore, they would require emotional skills almost on par with a psychologist. Moreover, I question whether identifying with the user’s emotions is efficient and effective for the process.
Teaching empathy has been a topic of debate among psychologists, educators, and designers. Some argue that empathy is a skill that can be developed through practice and experience. In this case, educational programs and immersion exercises in different realities are strategies believed to foster this capacity.
However, others maintain that empathy, especially emotional empathy, is an innate characteristic that varies among individuals. While we can learn to be more aware and receptive to others’ emotions and perspectives, genuinely feeling what others feel might be beyond the reach of traditional education.
What we need to clarify is whether understanding users’ emotions is a requirement to be good designers. I believe it is not, as the role of user-centered designers is to identify users’ needs and desires and to understand their experiences, but not necessarily to feel the user’s emotions.
On the other hand, there is the matter of personality. Some people are more predisposed to empathy, especially emotional and compassionate empathy, due to their personal characteristics. Thus, if design were about emotional empathy, only people who connect more with these aspects would be good designers, which is not true. In fact, dwelling too much on emotionality can be counterproductive and slow down the process. Additionally, those who are not naturally empathetic can develop equally valuable skills to identify and understand user needs without feeling exactly what they feel.
From my perspective, in design, when we talk about empathy, we refer to something slightly different from emotional empathy. More than feeling exactly what the user feels, it is about trying to see the world from their perspective. This approach, then, is cognitive, which seems more accessible to me, as it requires more thought than emotion and compassion and, therefore, could be developed with training and practice.
Therefore, in design, we do not teach empathy in its purest form. We teach designers to get to know users, respect their experiences, and work to understand their needs. This ability to understand, rather than feel, is what is truly taught and can be developed. By recognizing this, we can align expectations and teach designers to be more effective in their work without imposing the pressure to feel exactly what others feel.
