 Reactions to Suffering Suffering. We can't avoid it, no matter how hard we try. Between the poor, homeless, and sick, suffering is all around us. We like to think we take it in stride, but how do we really react to it? If you saw an older man shivering on a curb with only a thin blanket and old clothing, you'd most likely feel bad, but you'd keep walking. We all feel the pain of seeing this older gentleman look as though he might not make the night, but seldom stop and do anything. Our reactions are what make us who we are, both individually and as a species. Naturally, mankind is sympathetic to the pain and suffering of others. Psychologist Edward Titchiner translated the German word Einfellung, meaning feeling into, into English in 1909, turning into the word most of us know today as empathy. However, feeling bad for somebody is not empathy, despite what most people think. The feelings we get are instead a mixture of other emotions. What's the breakdown of some of these emotions? Pity is often distress, discomfort, and overall sadness when witnessing someone else's misery. If you were to see someone yelling at their significant other, you will most likely feel sad for them and look on for a few seconds before moving on. Pity is the acknowledgement of another's pain and that you feel bad for them, but pity does not go beyond this. Like-bait is another example of pity, where someone online posts a photo or video to make their viewers feel bad and at the end says, like, repost, reblog, retweet, share if you understand X's pain and want to help. Of course, a like won't help their suffering. It's just helping the poster by giving them likes on something they posted. Sympathy is the physical display of pity and hoping that the person will be relieved of that pain or suffering. It is caring about the well-being of somebody without personally knowing the struggle. You try to understand by putting yourself in their shoes. Empathy is both caring and personally knowing the struggle the other person is going through. Remember, personally knowing is not always paired with caring, which means it is not true empathy. This is evident in psychopaths. You have to have personal experience and care in order to empathize. Compassion is either empathy or sympathy paired with a desire to relieve that person of their pain. With compassion, you actively seek a solution. You do something with your sympathy or empathy rather than just walking away. It must be noted that altruism is very different from empathy, sympathy, pity, and compassion. When someone acts altruistically, they are acting on the basis that it is the right thing to do, not because they feel bad. Altruism can be detached and emotionless as it is not buried in personal emotions, only in doing the perceived right thing. One way that altruism can backfire is being ignorant of pain, not understanding the problem but trying to fix it anyway. A good example of this is replacing a child's old broken toy that holds memories because you believe it is the right thing to do. However, by replacing this toy, you are tossing out all the memories they have attached to that toy. So, if you were to see that same old man shivering, what would your reaction be? Pity, sympathy, empathy? Would you give him another blanket out of altruism or out of compassion? Write your answers below, and don't forget to subscribe for more videos about human emotions.