Final answer:
Empathy is the ability to understand another person's feelings from their perspective and is important in social problem solving, morality, and relationships. It increases during adolescence and promotes emotional connections and the desire to help others.
Step-by-step explanation:
Empathy is the capacity to understand what another person is feeling by experiencing the situation from that person's frame of reference. Cognitive empathy, which relates to the ability to take the perspective of others and feel concern for them, begins to increase during adolescence. It is an essential part of social problem solving and conflict avoidance.
Empathy allows an individual to make an emotional connection with others and is often felt to compel an empathetic person to help. It is nurtured within supportive relationships, such as those with parents who are open to discussing worries and concerns. Empathy plays a role in morality, suggesting that the ability to understand and share the feelings of another is an innate capacity that enhances group survival.