“Being touched by the suffering of others, opening one’s awareness to others’ pain and not avoiding or disconnecting from it, so that feelings of kindness towards others and the desire to alleviate their suffering emerge. It also involves offering non-judgmental understanding to those who fail or do wrong”.

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To be sensitive to the suffering of others and have a desire to alleviate that suffering is compassion. Compassion can be thought of as a psychological state, a trait, an emotion, a motivation, a behavior, or a combination of the foregoing, and one critique of compassion science is the lack of a consistent, precise concept among different studies. Many of the studies highlighted here, however, generally define compassion as sensitivity to another’s suffering coupled with a desire to alleviate that suffering.

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Associated with warm, positive emotions and prosocial approach motivations and behaviors.

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Kanov et al. (2004) represent compassion as a three-part process hinging on the interrelationship of self and other in the midst of suffering. More specifically, compassion consists of attention to or noticing of suffering; empathic concern, a felt relation with the other; and action to lessen or relieve suffering. The noticing of suffering involves awareness of the presence or possible presence of suffering. That is, one may notice that someone else is suffering or that an individual is under some kind of duress without being certain that that person is suffering. Because noticing brings awareness, it is therefore a necessary (but not sufficient) precondition for the subsequent steps of the compassion process.
Felt empathic concern, the second part of the compassion process, is the feeling of compassion —the “suffering with” that emotionally connects one person to another who is struggling or suffering. Research reveals the role of perspective-taking for a host of organizational processes, including the production and transfer of knowledge, negotiation, and contextual performance. Our framework builds on this research to suggest that empathic concern, which involves perspective-taking, plays an important role in organizations by connecting the awareness of suffering to compassionate responding.
Compassionate responding is the third part of the compassion process and refers to actions or displays that occur in response to others’ suffering with the aim of lessening, alleviating, or making it more bearable. Research suggests that compassionate responding in work organizations can take at least three forms: emotional support, material goods, and the granting of time and flexibility, which can be either work-related or home-related. In this way, the responding component of the compassion process is closely linked to the family of prosocial behaviors or interpersonal citizenship, which focuses on helping behaviors or intentional actions that benefit another.

With the above three-part definition as a foundation, research has demonstrated that compassion varies in two key ways. First, compassion can range in form from a more dyadic process to a more collective and organized one. Compassion also may vary in the competence with which it is delivered, as reflected in the ability to respond to the unique needs and circumstances of others.

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Compassion can be defined as “the emotion one experiences when feeling concern for another’s suffering and desiring to enhance that individual’s welfare”. Compassion consists of two main components. First, there is a caring feeling for the suffering of others that secondly motivates behavior aimed at relieving the other’s suffering. Whereas empathy is a vicarious emotion isomorphic to the emotional experience of the other, the experience of compassion, sympathy, or empathic concern denotes an affective state experienced with regard to the other that does not encompass the sharing of negative affect, but instead relies on a feeling of care and concern that motivates prosocial behavior.

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Compassion has been described as a vicarious experience of another’s distress, a blend of sadness and love, or as a subtype or variant of love.

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Compassion does not mean sharing the suffering of the other: rather, it is characterized by feelings of warmth, concern and care for the other, as well as a strong motivation to improve the other’s wellbeing. Compassion is feeling for and not feeling with the other. Compassion is also referred to as empathic concern or sympathy. Compassion is conceived as a feeling of concern for another person’s suffering which is accompanied by the motivation to help. By consequence, it is associated with approach and prosocial motivation.

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Following consolidation of existing definitions, we propose that compassion consists of five elements: recognizing suffering, understanding the universality of human suffering, feeling for the person suffering, tolerating uncomfortable feelings, and motivation to act/acting to alleviate suffering.

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In the literature, there appears to be a broad consensus that compassion involves feeling for a person who is suffering and being motivated to act to help them. Compassion is not only about feeling touched by a person’s suffering, but also about wanting to act to help them.

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An openness to the suffering of others with a commitment to relieve it. Within Buddhism, compassion is seen not only as an emotional response but also as a response founded on reason and wisdom which is embedded in an ethical framework concerned with the selfless intention of freeing others from suffering.

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Kanov et al. (2004) argue that compassion consists of three facets: noticing, feeling, and responding. ‘Noticing’ involves being aware of a person’s suffering, either by cognitively recognizing this suffering or by experiencing an unconscious physical or affective reaction to it. ‘Feeling’ is defined as responding emotionally to that suffering and experiencing ‘empathic concern’ through adopting the person’s perspective and imagining or feeling their condition. Finally, ‘responding’ involves having a desire to act to alleviate the person’s suffering. Compassion does not purely consist of affective and behavioral elements, but also may have cognitive components insofar as it involves being able to imagine and reason about a person’s experiences.

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He (Gilbert 2010) defines compassion as: “A deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it” and, like Kanov et al. (2004), suggests it has cognitive, affective and behavioral elements. Gilbert (2010) sees compassion as consisting of six ‘attributes’: sensitivity, sympathy, empathy, motivation/caring, distress tolerance and non-judgement. ‘Sensitivity’ involves being responsive to other people’s emotions and perceiving when they need help, which appears to correspond to Kanov et al.’s ‘noticing’ facet. ‘Sympathy’ (defined as showing concern for the other person’s suffering) and ‘empathy’ (defined as putting yourself in their shoes) together appear to correspond to Kanov et al.’s ‘feeling’ facet. Finally, ‘motivation’ to act is akin to Kanov et al.’s ‘responding’ facet. The final two components in Gilbert’s (2010) model – ‘distress tolerance’ and ‘non-judgement’ – are not included in Kanov et al.’s (2004) model. Distress tolerance is defined as the ability to tolerate difficult emotions in oneself when confronted with someone else’s suffering without becoming overwhelmed by them. Gilbert argues that this is important because if we over-identify with a person’s suffering we may feel a need to get away from them or reduce our awareness of their distress, preventing a compassionate response. This suggests that, although compassion is about ‘suffering with’ another person, if we feel such extreme personal distress in the face of another’s suffering that we become too focused on our own discomfort, this may hinder our ability to help. The final element of Gilbert’s model – ‘non-judgement’ – is defined as the ability to remain accepting of and tolerant towards another person even when their condition, or response to it, gives rise to difficult feelings in oneself, such as frustration, anger, fear or disgust.

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Wispe (1991) conceptualizes compassion for others not only as being aware of and moved by suffering and wanting to help, but also as including the ability to adopt a non-judgmental stance towards others and to tolerate one’s own distress when faced with other people’s suffering.

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Pommier (2010) has applied Neff’s (2003a) model of self-compassion to a model of compassion for others suggesting that, like self-compassion, compassion for others can be seen as involving kindness, mindfulness and common humanity.

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“an orientation of mind that recognizes pain and the universality of pain in human experience and the capacity to meet that pain with kindness, empathy, equanimity and patience” (p. 145).

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The idea that compassion can be experienced towards close others and those we do not know is also emphasized by Sprecher and Fehr (2005) who developed a measure of ‘compassionate love’ which includes separate versions relating to close others and strangers or humankind at large.

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“A concern for the wellbeing of others.”

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“Relationship between one’s own suffering and self-oriented compassion, and compassion for others”

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“Compassion as a dynamic process, or a set of sub-processes, that may be found both in individuals and collectivities. We identify these sub-processes as “noticing”, “feeling”, and “responding”, each contributing uniquely to the process of compassion.”

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“For me, an area of moral clarity is: you’re in front of someone who’s suffering and you have the tools at your disposal to alleviate that suffering or even eradicate it, and you act.“

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“Is compassion a moral force? The answer, according to many spiritual leaders like the Dalai Lama, is a resounding yes. The experience of compassion, they assert, has a radiating effect, extending kindness and forgiveness toward others, even those who have intentionally transgressed.”

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Compassion is a response to suffering, the inevitable adversity all human beings will meet in their lives, whether it is the pain embedded in the fabric of ageing, sickness and death or the psychological and emotional afflictions that debilitate the mind. Compassion is the acknowledgment that not all pain can be ‘fixed’ or ‘solved’ but all suffering is made more approachable in a landscape of compassion.

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Compassion is a multi-textured response to pain, sorrow and anguish. It includes kindness, empathy, generosity and acceptance. The strands of courage, tolerance, equanimity are equally woven into the cloth of compassion. Above all compassion is the capacity to open to the reality of suffering and to aspire to its healing. The Dalai Lama once said, ‘If you want to know what compassion is, look into the eyes of a mother or father as they cradle their sick and fevered child.”

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Compassion “is the feeling that arises in witnessing another’s suffering and that motivates a subsequent desire to help. This definition conceptualizes compassion as an affective state defined by a specific subjective feeling, and it differs from treatments of compassion as an attitude or as a general benevolent response to others, regardless of suffering or blame. This definition also clearly differentiates compassion from empathy, which refers to the vicarious experience of another’s emotions.”

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Compassion “has been described as a path leading to greater awareness. For example, Feldman (2005) wrote: One is to see compassion as the outcome of a path that can be cultivated and developed. You do not in reality cultivate compassion, but you can cultivate, through investigation, the qualities that incline your heart toward compassion. You can learn to attend to the moments when you close and contract in the face of suffering, anger, fear, or alienation. In those moments you are asked to question what difference empathy, forgiveness, patience, and tolerance would make. You cultivate your commitment to turn toward your responses of aversion, anger, or intolerance. With mindfulness and investigation, you find in your heart the generosity and understanding that allow you to open rather than close. (pp. 141–142)”

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“Compassion is a relational process that involves noticing another person’s pain, experiencing an emotional reaction to his or her pain, and acting in some way to help ease or alleviate the pain.“

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“Compassion in organizations makes people feel seen and known; it also helps them feel less alone. Moreover, compassion alters the “felt connection” between people at work, and is associated with a range of positive attitudes, behaviors, and feelings in organizations. Research and writing on compassion in organizations reveals it as a positive and very powerful force..

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We regard compassion in organizations as processual and relational. It is common to think of it as an individual characteristic, and a given individual as being either “compassionate” or “uncompassionate”. Compassion is also seen as a state induced by another person’s suffering, a “painful emotion” that one person experiences for another. In contrast, we conceptualize compassion as a dynamic process, or a set of sub-processes, that may be found both in individuals and collectivities. Building on Clark (1997), we identify these sub-processes as “noticing”, “feeling”, and “responding”, each contributing uniquely to the process of compassion.”

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“Compassion comes into the English language by way of the Latin root “passio,” which means to suffer, paired with the Latin prefix “com,” meaning together—to suffer together. The concept of compassion and its link to suffering has deep philosophical and religious roots. For instance, Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas noted the interdependence of suffering and compassion when he wrote: “No one becomes compassionate unless he suffers”. Ancient Chinese traditions acknowledge the interrelationship of suffering and human concern in the figure of Kwan Yin, often referred to as the goddess of compassion. Hindu imagery depicts compassion through a half-ape half-human deity, Hanuman, whose chest is cleaved open to reveal his heart to others undefended. Some Buddhist traditions induct individuals seeking to cultivate their compassion into the vow of the Boddhisattva, whose life is dedicated to being present with and relieving the suffering of all beings. A recurring theme is thus the relationship between one’s own suffering and self-oriented compassion, and compassion for others”.

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“Compassion is a multi-dimensional process in which three elements of compassion form a tri-partite concept: noticing another person’s suffering,empathically feeling that person’s pain, and acting in a manner intended to ease the suffering. All of these elements are necessary, in this view, to understand compassion. Importantly, compassion goes beyond felt empathy to entail action, which is regarded as a compassionate response regardless of whether or not it successfully alleviates suffering.”

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“Compassion is conceptualized as one form of emotional work and is theoretically developed through a model that highlights the subprocesses of noticing, feeling, and responding.”

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Compassion “Although there is no single definition of compassion that will suffice in all situations, both scholars and laypeople would widely agree that compassion involves ‘‘connection’’ to others (either cognitively through perspective taking or affectively through empathy) and ‘‘caring’’ for those others (often in communicative or behavioral ways). Compassion involves a focus on the other and a desire for the other to have good things happen or to overcome adversity.”

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“Compassion is often considered an important human strength, requiring a sense of caring, empathy, and sympathy, each of which enable one to connect with and care for another. Of notable relevance to mental health, compassion is not only a process that builds positive relationships with others; it is also a vital path to releasing the human mind from the effects of harmful negative emotions”.

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Compassion “In Western culture, compassion has mainly been understood in terms of concern for the suffering of others. As defined by Webster’s online dictionary, compassion is ‘‘the humane quality of understanding the suffering of others and wanting to do something about it.’’ In many Buddhist traditions, however, it is considered equally important to offer compassion to the self. To give compassion to others but not the self, in fact, is seen drawing artificial distinctions between self and others that misrepresent our essential interconnectedness. From this point of view self-compassion is simply compassion directed inward”.

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“Compassion is one of the key value of humanities perspective, which addresses the nonphysical aspects of palliative care. The word ‘‘compassion’’ comes from Latin and means a willingness ‘‘to suffer with.’’ Compassion refers to a deep awareness of the suffering of another coupled with the wish to relieve it. Many of the world’s major religions hold compassion as one of the highest spiritual virtues. Compassion is also one of the chief virtues in the Buddhist tradition. In Asian countries, where Buddhism is much more prevalent, compassion is deeply embedded in the culture”.

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“Compassion has been understood in terms of concern for the suffering of others. With self-compassion, however, one is emotionally supportive toward both the self and others when hardship or human imperfection is confronted.”

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“The feeling that arises in witnessing another’s suffering and that motivates a subsequent desire to help.“

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Sensitivity to the suffering of another accompanied by the motivation to alleviate that suffering; also referred to as empathic concern.

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“Compassion is a relational process that involves noticing another person’s pain, experiencing an emotional reaction to his or her pain, and acting in some way to help ease or alleviate the pain“

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“In the classical teachings of the Buddhist tradition compassion is defined as the heart that trembles in the face of suffering. At times, compassion is translated as the heart that can tremble in the face of suffering. It is aspired to as the noblest quality of the human heart, the motivation underlying all meditative paths of healing and liberation.

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We define compassion as the feeling that arises in witnessing another’s suffering and that motivates a subsequent desire to help. This definition conceptualizes compassion as an affective state defined by a specific subjective feeling, and differs from treatments of compassion as an attitude, or as a general benevolent response to others regardless of suffering or blame. This definition also clearly differentiates compassion from empathy, which refers to the vicarious experience of another’s emotions.

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