Translations:Lexicon/38/en
- High-contextual individuals generally have strong cognitive empathy. As a result, their emotional empathy is better attuned to context and often more appropriate in social situations.
- Low-contextual individuals have limited cognitive empathy. Their emotional response is therefore less attuned to the environment. This resembles more of a reflexive form of sharing emotion: sympathy.
Casus
Person B enters the train and struggles to place his suitcase in the luggage rack.
- Person A recognizes from Person B’s face that this causes effort and frustration → cognitive empathy.
- Person A feels frustration himself by seeing this → emotional empathy.
- A high-contextual person will respond in a way attuned to the situation (for example, calmly offering help).
- A low-contextual person may show a less appropriate emotional response (overreacting emotionally, without grasping the situation).
Casus
Another form of being cognitively misaligned: the husband is working hard, but the heavy lifting causes pain in his shoulders. He looks distressed. She notices his facial expression, but due to her low-contextuality she cannot link it to the heavy work. She therefore thinks he is 'angry'. Because she believes he is angry, she reacts with anger toward him. The husband feels misunderstood and doubly punished.