Below is from the Sympathy entr The bold statements appear to be reversed. Thus it is possible to be: * Empathetic but not sympathetic, by internally experiencing their feeling but not being motivated to alleviating action as a result (eg, a lust killer who is aroused by his victim's fear, or a con artist who knows how his "mark" feels but uses it to manipulate not support), and it is also possible to be: * Sympathetic but not empathetic by realising (perhaps _cognitively_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognition) ) someone is upset and wanting to alleviate that, but not experiencing their sense of upset directly and internally as an emotional state within themselves (eg, a person at a help desk who sees another in distress, does not feel distress themselves, but tries to find what is wrong and help them anyway). [_edit_ (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sympathy&action=edit&sect…) ] See also