Without empathy a leader in any of the three branches of government,  would not be motivated to alleviate a constituent’s distress.

Empathy encompasses at least three related, but distinct, subprocesses.

Mentalizing refers to the ability to draw inferences about a target’s thoughts and feelings (Davis, 1983). Experience sharing refers to the process by which someone vicariously experiences another person’s emotional state (Hatfield, Cacioppo, & Rapson, 1993). Finally, empathic concern captures a perceiver’s desire to alleviate a target’s distress (Batson, 2009). Though behaviorally and physiologically dissociable, the three sub-components are deeply intertwined and interactive (Zaki & Ochsner, 2012)