Empathemoji Thinking Tool

Quick user guide:

Empathy – Oxford Dictionary:

The ability to understand and share the feelings of another. e.g.” The doctor should try to develop empathy between herself and the patient.”

Sign-up and test Empathemojis now on the Many Minds forum!

Empathemojis help several people look at a problem from the same angle at the same time. Thinking from the same perspective as another person increases empathy and decreases adversarial thinking.

By inserting an Empathemoji within your text you are putting on a metaphorical mask, as though you were an actor playing a role.

It is best to try to use the same Empathemoji as other people at the same time.

Example. 1.

(R) I feel frustrated because our conversation is becoming adversarial. (b) So I am going to put on my Facilemoji mask and suggest we work through the emoji sequence. Let’s start by using the (W) Informemoji, by looking at the facts together. (W) Then we can all find positive things to say about the proposal and so on.

Example 2. (Including the use of Systemojis).

Fred Bloggs – (R) I feel angry about the increasing number of immigrants living in my (3) community as jobs are hard enough to come by, especially since the economic crash. (G) I am thinking about proposing the policy to “Close borders to immigrants.”

Muriel Toplegate – hear you are angry Fred and I would like to help you. To start, (b) I suggest we look for the root-cause of your problem, that is, why people emigrate and why we had an economic crash. That way we can more easily identify the outcomes needed to achieve the goal of decent employment prospects for you now, and in the future. (W) Most people emigrate out of desperation to flee conflict and extreme poverty, not because they loathe where they are from. Also, with regards to jobs and the economic crash, the crash was caused by the illegal activities of multinational banks, the government’s inability to regulate the banks or to maintain prosperity. (5) The root cause of your problem is therefore global in scope and requires global solutions to end economic inequality and also conflict. (B) Finally, this is the sort of policy that you may want your national government to implement. It does not require global cooperation to implement so I do not think your proposal is right for inclusion as a Global People Power policy. (4) It is national in scope and (b) this platform is for (5+) global policies only.

What?
  • Facilemojis (b). Facilitating- What is the subject matter and what are our common objectives? Which Empathemoji should we be using
  • What are our ground rules?
  • Informemoji (W). Information- what facts are available?
  • Posemoji (Y). Optimistic – looking together to find positives
  • Negemoji (B). Discernment- looking together to find reasons to be cautious
  • Createmojis (G) Creativity- being provocative by coming up with new ideas.
  • Emotemoji (R) Emotions- being briefly intuitive, instinctive and taking a temperature check on feelings which don’t need to be justified.
  • Facilemoji (b) Facilitating by summarising the results of the process.
More in-depth
Why?

To simplify debating by allowing you to debate from the same angle at the same time.
Viewing a problem from the same perspective reduces conflict, trolling and flame wars.
To increase conscious, co-operative, collaborative debate.
To make problem solving faster, more efficient and effective and increase positive outcomes.
Enable objective thinking about the thinking required to solve a problem.

How?

Empathemojis are masks worn to be as though you were an actor playing a role.
It is OK to overact.

The purpose is not to prove yourself right but to do your best at acting your part.

  • Use Empathemojis before your sentence, not after. Wear your mask with purpose.
  • You do not have to use Empathemojis all the time but the more they are used, the greater the awareness of thinking being used.
  • To help choose between alternatives, try to use Empathemojis in the order they are listed above.
  • If conflict occurs, refer to the Facilemojis (b) recommending use of the same Empathemojis at the same time.
  • Which Empathemojis do you use the most? What does that say about your thinking? Try to use Empathemojis you do not normally use.
  • The Emotemojis (R) is very useful to attain gut reaction and intuitive thinking.
  • Use the
  • Emotemoji
  • (R) very briefly to avoid emotional flame-wars.
Setting the Facilemojis
(b) Ground Rules

What is the subject matter and what are our common objectives? Which Empathemoji should we be using? What are our ground rules?
Respect difference. Value difference. Honour difference.
Wherever possible, use the same Empathemojis at the same time.
What is the systemic, root-cause of this problem?

Find systemic solutions that would:

  • Enhance global cooperation?
  • Require global cooperation to work?
  • Resolve unhealthy competition between nations and groups of people?
  • Be the simplest way to achieve the best outcome – build on what already exists as a means of transition to the solution – use the
  • system to change the system?
  • Benefit everyone and appeal to most people’s values as they exist?
  • Utilise tools that already exist?
  • Be creative as opposed to destructive by finding new improved solutions which peacefully out-mode old destructive systems?
  • Cause the least problems?
  • Avoid “catastrophism,” the desire to simply tear the system down in the hope that something better will arise?
  • What would the outcome be?
  • Could the outcomes be agreed upon by different people with different values?
  • How can we ensure that minority interests are included?
  • Who might come into conflict with the solution?