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Conveying empathy

Video Type: In Practice

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Summary

Maria is a 24-year old, second-generation Argentinian woman living in Canada who came out as a lesbian last year. Her parents are devout Catholics and opposed to homosexuality, and she feels they have not fully absorbed her sexual orientation—they see it as a “phase.” She feels they are very gradually adjusting, but is concerned that announcing the plan to move in with her partner Lisa would disturb the current peaceful equilibrium in their relationship. Maria is getting pressure from Lisa, but is concerned that moving in would be extremely upsetting to her parents, and she is stuck as to how to go forward. Here Alex is mostly busy listening to Maria and trying to convey an empathetic response to the story she shares. What verbals and nonverbals does he draw on to convey his empathy? What aspects of this practice might you have done similarly/differently? Here, Alex does not offer many of Maria's words back to her, or substitute them with words and phrases of his own. These are additional skills for coordinating meaning (restating and paraphrasing) that you will learn about in later chapters. However, he makes a point of acknowledging that this must have been difficult for Maria, on the chance that his nonverbals alone do not sufficiently convey his empathy.

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