Excessive empathy can even impair understanding

​London: People who empathise easily with others do not necessarily understand them well and, on the contrary, excessive empathy can lead to impairment in their understanding of others, finds a new study.

The findings showed that people who tend to be empathic do not necessarily understand other people well at a cognitive level. Hence, social skills seem to be based on multiple abilities that are rather independent of one another.

"Successful social interaction is based on our ability to feel with others and to understand their thoughts and intentions," said Anne Bockler, junior professor and psychologist at the University of Wurzburg in Germany.

Also, the researchers found that the neuronal networks crucial for empathy and cognitive perspective taking interact with one another in the brain.