ABSTRACT
Empathy is considered to be an essential element in both the therapeutic and the developmental processes, and is often invoked to explain at least in part, a successful outcome. Generally, empathy has been defined as the act of putting oneself in the other's place, or entering into the other's state of mind. It is a useful term for designating a psychological stance toward the other that can be distinguished from other stances, such as confronting, advising, correcting, or teaching the other. But as an explanatory concept, empathy is often used in a global way, shedding little light on the particular aspects of the other's experience that are “entered into,” on the particular processes involved in assuming an empathic stance, or on the variety of exchanges and consequences that can occur. This paper attempts to articulate at least some of the complexity of this phenomenon by viewing empathy through the lens of affect. It is argued that affect provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding infant-mother exchanges and perhaps, by extension, for understanding adult-adult exchanges as well.
