Cognitive Empathy and Disability Evaluation

In my previous post ‘Cognitive Bias and Workers’ Compensation,’ I noted that Cognitive Bias is a thought process that allows us to seek out or interpret evidence in a way that supports our own beliefs and ignore information that contradicts our opinion.

In a disability evaluation, Cognitive Bias can lead to an ill-informed choice. What is needed to counter Cognitive Bias is Cognitive Empathy, a thought process that refers to the ability to understand and mentally grasp what another person is thinking or feeling and involves comprehending the emotions and thoughts of others without necessarily sharing the same emotional experience. Unlike Emotional Empathy which involves sharing another person’s emotional state, Cognitive Empathy is more of an intellectual understanding and goes a long way to effective communication and social interaction and works well in disability evaluation and also seems to work well with family and friends.