Final answer:
Sensing that your friend is upset with you is an act of emotional empathy, which involves sharing another's feelings and emotions. Cognitive empathy, on the other hand, refers to understanding others' feelings from a cognitive standpoint. Developing empathy is key in adolescence for nurturing relationships and coping with emotional situations.
Step-by-step explanation:
When you sense that your friend is upset with you, you are engaging in a form of emotional empathy. This type of empathy involves sharing another person's feelings, often triggering a sense of concern for that person's emotional state. Cognitive empathy, also known as theory-of-mind, is related but distinct; it involves the ability to take the perspective of others and understand their feelings and emotions from a cognitive standpoint, rather than feeling those emotions directly.
To develop a deeper sense of empathy, whether it is emotional or cognitive, can lead to better social problem solving and conflict avoidance. It is especially critical in adolescence as teens work to navigate social dynamics and build supportive relationships, such as with parents or friends who are good listeners. Understanding the emotional content behind words and gestures can help foster more significantly attuned and supportive interactions, which in turn, affect our relationships and how we respond during moments of conflict or emotional distress.
However, it is also important to manage one's own emotions when attempting to empathize with others, sometimes by using tools of metacognition to reflect on the source of those emotions, which allows us to offer comfort or support in a more effective and mindful way.