Understanding Empathy: Why It’s Important?

Abstrak

A number of literature states that the ability to empathize has a positive impact on children's behavior towards other people, supports social relationships, and increases interactions in the surrounding environment. However, various forms of violence and conflict that have occurred recently are considered to be the result of a lack of culture of empathy in Indonesian society. The literature also shows that most people are no longer willing to try to understand feelings and put themselves in other people's shoes. Acts of violence occur everywhere. This happens because today's culture of empathy in society has almost disappeared. This research aims to find out more about the results of previous studies which discuss the importance of understanding empathy, especially in children. By knowing the importance of understanding empathy in everyday life, it is hoped that empathy skills can be taught from an early age. Narrative literature review was used as the methodology in this research.