Empathy involves understanding and sharing another person's emotional state or experience. It has advantages like improved relationships and performance, but can also make one feel uncomfortable. When providing social support, one should focus on the other person rather than oneself. Visible support that undermines the recipient's self-efficacy can be unhelpful, while invisible support maintaining both parties' efficacy is most supportive. The most distressing type of support is visible support that implies recipient inefficacy, while invisible mutual-efficacy support is generally seen as most supportive.

1. Social Support
CNA 100
Interpersonal Communication

2. Empathy

3. Empathy
O Emotion or Action?
O What are the advantages to feeling empathy?
O Improved relationships
O Higher job and school performance
O Popularity
O What are the disadvantages to feeling empathy?
O Uncomfortable
O Poor solutions

4. Social Support

5. “He was a jerk, why
“It must be difficult. I are you flipping out
know you two were about him? Let me
really close.” set you up with
Floyd.”
Person- Centered Position- Centered
“I know you are sad,
but there are plenty
of fish in the sea.”

6. The Problem
with
Social Support

7. The Problem with
Social Support
O Efficacy – Confidence in one’s ability to
complete a task
O Co-dependency – Inability to cope alone
O Victimization – Support actually exaggerates
the problem.

8. Invisible
Support

9. Types of Support
O Visible ~ Recipient inefficacy
O “I can tell you need some help. I think you
should call a department meeting”
O Visible ~ Recipient Efficacy
O “Obviously you don’t need my help. But, if I
had to say anything, I would say call a
department meeting.”

10. Types of Support
O Invisible ~ Recipient efficacy (Self-depreciating)
O “Do you think you are going to call a department
meeting? I am not sure what I would do?”
O Invisible ~ Recipient and self-efficacy
O “Clearly you know what to do. If it were me, I
know I would just call a department meeting.”

11. What do you think?
O Which do you think causes most distress?
O Visible – Recipient inefficacy
O Visible – Recipient efficacy
O Invisible – Recipient efficacy, self depreciating
O Invisible – Recipient and Self efficacy
O Doing nothing

12. What do you think?
O Which do you think was seen as most supportive?
O Visible – Recipient inefficacy
O Visible – Recipient efficacy
O Invisible – Recipient efficacy, self depreciating
O Invisible – Recipient and Self efficacy
O Doing nothing

13. Discussion
O Your classmate just entered the break room
full of tears. You heard earlier that day that
her fiancé had been caught sleeping with
someone else. She sits next to you but does
not say anything to you.
O How do you offer her social support?