Cognitive style predicts entry into physical sciences and humanities: Questionnaire and performance tests of empathy and systemizing Empathy can be separated into two major facets. Cognitive empathy refers to the ability to recognize and understand another's mental state (part of theory of mind (ToM) or mentalising) while affective empathy is the ability to share the feelings of others, without any direct emotional stimulation to oneself. Empathy Is a Clock That Ticks in the Consciousness of Another: The Science of How Our Social Interactions Shape Our Experience of Time we may be born alone, but childhood ends with a synchrony of clocks, as we lend ourselves fully to the contagion of time.”