Empathy as Heteroception: Framing the Sense of Other

• In Event: Joint Roundtables: Social Psychology Section and Sociology of Emotions Section
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 7 - Theory

Abstract

In this paper empathy is reconceptualized as heteroception: an acquired and situated sense of other. Rather than treating empathy as an inner feeling, a cognitive inference, or an automatic simulation, we frame it as a sensory–interactionist capacity that integrates pre-reflective perception, symbolic mediation, imagination, and embodied engagement. We argue that perceiving others is grounded in a general sense (heteroception) that relies on multiple sub-senses such as a sense of community, responsibility, hospitality, and more. These are social–sensory receptors that make it possible to perceive interactional frames, interpret situations, and orient oneself toward others. These sub-senses function as interpretive receptors that both guide perception and are reshaped through encounters. We therefore reread empathy through the sociology of the senses, emphasizing its sensory dimension. Empathy thus emerges as a modulated sensorium embedded in social life, capable of recognizing or reorganizing social experience.

Author

• Giampietro Gobo, University of Milan