Empathy Map

The basis of this post: Empathy Map

 My Choice     
Choosing a person for this assignment was very difficult for me. I wracked my brain for quite some time and actually begin to feel guilty at the fact that I don’t know anyone who is significantly different from me very well. Thinking of the closest people to me, I realized that they are all very similar to me in that we match demographics. This isn’t unnatural though, as the human brain is psychologically wired to find people who are similar to us more attractive and approachable. Despite this difficulty, I finally settled on a friend’s mom, who we will call D.

Overview
D is in her fifties and Hispanic. She has been married for 22 years and is the mother of two boys. Since she has six siblings, D has a very large extended family. I don’t know her income for sure, but I would guess that she and her husband are upper middle class. They don’t seem to have problems making ends meet at the end of each month. She is caring, protective, and thoughtful. She cooks great Mexican food and comfort food, enjoys gardening and loves animals.  D also has an eye disease which has made her legally blind. As she ages her eyesight will continue to deteriorate.

Seeing
D spends most of her time at work, and when she is not at work she is most likely at home. Since she is legally blind she cannot drive and never goes anywhere by herself, therefore she is limited in the places she can travel to. Her work environment is most likely the typical large office setting—with cubicles and hierarchical separation. At home, her house is adorned with decorations from the 70s. It is cozy, traditional, and homey. It is also well lit to help her see things better. D’s friends are mostly people she met at work and her family. Once when she took two weeks off work she mentioned that she missed her friends. I would guess that seeing her friends at work is what makes her job worthwhile. On a daily basis she is exposed to advertising on television and in the newspaper, so she is continuously exposed to market offerings through these media channels.

Hearing
D is constantly hearing about new things at work—including music, TV shows, beauty products, and foods. It is obvious that her friends at work really influence and help develop her tastes, and that word of mouth spreads products throughout her circle of friends.

On the other hand, I have also noticed that she always seeks others approval when she is shopping. When I have been shopping with her before, she always asks things to me like “Do I need this?” and “Do you think this is cute?” She is also heavily affected by her husband’s opinion and lets him make the final call on purchases. For example, one time I was shopping with her family and she was very interested in purchasing a GPS, but as soon as her spouse said “we don’t need it”, she let go of the idea. Since she reads the newspaper every day and watches the news as well as several TV shows (soaps, the bachelorette, celebrity shows), she is influenced by TV and the newspaper media channels.

Music is an integral part of D's life. She enjoys listening to music on her iPod while at work and on car rides. She spends a lot of money purchasing front-row tickets to big concerts so that she can hear her favorite musicians live.

Thinking and Feeling
The most important thing in D’s life is obviously her family. She wants to support her family emotionally and monetarily. I believe that her son’s success and happiness are very important to her and that if they achieve this she will believe she has fulfilled her purpose in life. She often posts inspirational quotes about her family and sons on her Facebook, which shows how big of a role her family plays in her life. She finds pleasure in nurturing and this drives her actions; she spends her free time gardening, crafting blankets to give as gifts, cooking for friends and family, and taking care of her pets. Religion also plays a significant role in her life so I think that it is important to her to satisfy her religious duties by praying, reading from the bible, and attending church. She always says a small prayer before leaving on trips or when she sends her son off to college, showing that she may believe that her fate is in God’s hands.  Her major worries in life would have to be the failures of her sons (she often is in denial when one of them has done something wrong) and also aging. Like many women her age, she is going through menopause, and she is preoccupied with worries about getting older and her changing appearance. I have seen lately that she is trying to exercise more and lose weight. Because of this she is interested in purchasing exercise equipment and anti-aging products.

A few of D's Facebook posts

 

 

Saying and Doing
D is all-around a very polite and friendly person. Her attitude seems to be negative towards herself and positive towards other people. She often is supportive of others ideas and offers words of comfort to people who need them, yet she seems to over criticize herself. She doesn’t socialize a lot or spend time with friends in her free time but I think part of it is because she can’t go anywhere by herself. Around family, she is very relaxed and humorous, and even enjoys living it up a little by drinking beer and playing jokes on people. Sometimes she surprises me by doing adventurous things despite her age (iFly, schlitterbahn). D dresses modestly, and when she goes out she always puts on nicer clothes and pulls her hair out of its ponytail. She does her hair and makeup everyday so I know her appearance is important to her and that she wants to make a good impression in public.

Pain Points
Her basic paint points would revolve around her sons, her religion, and her health state. First and foremost I think she fears the loss of her sons. This doesn’t necessarily mean their death but figuratively losing them when they get married and move away for good. I believe this because she is very protective of them, especially when they get girlfriends. She doesn’t like them to stay out late and has mentioned that she cannot sleep well when she doesn’t know exactly what they’re up to. Part of the reason she is so attached to her sons (even more so than the average mother) is that she literally relies on them from everything to driving her to the grocery store to helping her find her way around the aisles at JCPennys, and as she ages she will need even more help. Second, as a devoted catholic she most likely fears the rejection of God or not being accepted into heaven. This drives her to make moral decisions throughout her life. Lastly, I believe she fears going blind. There is a possibility she will go blind as she ages, depending on the rate of her eye loss. I have no idea what this feels like but I can only imagine that it creates a huge emotional burden since she has no control over this loss.

 

I know her blindness creates daily frustrations and obstacles for her. Since she cannot drive anymore, she can never go to the store anymore and therefore complains often about being “cooped up all the time”. She only gets chances to go shopping or out on weekends when someone is willing to take her, and therefore while she is shopping she often buys a lot and makes impulse purchases for small items like clothes and yard art because she doesn’t always get chances to buy things.

Gain Points
From what I have heard it sounds like D wants to retire as soon as possible and move to somewhere outside the city limits where the weather is nicer and she can relax with her husband. I can’t imagine her moving too far from where her sons are, but she has mentioned moving to Arkansas on multiple occasions. Right now they cannot retire because they are still working to pay for their sons educations.  More than anything it seems she wants to stay young and attractive. I can see this in how she stays up to date on modern trends, spends time and money on Mary Kay makeup products, and when she complains about her “growing stomach area”. I think that D will believe she has achieved success if her sons make good decisions and find happiness in life. From the perspective of Maslow's hierarchy, D has conquered the social, safety, and belonging stages of wants, but now she is faced with the challenges of achieving self esteem.