Empathy

I do not think that empathy, in its truest sense, could be considered a mental power, like its more popular cousin, telepathy. This sensing of different peoples moods around them is personally cued, and because of this, I would promote that it is more an ability to read the minute details in body language and physiology, as well as a possible sensitivity in pheromone identification.

What happens with the empath? Utilizing simple observational skills, the empath correctly identifies the telltale signs given in body language. The limb positioning, the flushness of the skin, the pace of the breathing, the pulse and heartbeat, the stance of the hair, the dilation of the pupil. All these things scream out reams of data that the average human simply ignores as unimportant, and does not notice. Often, the empath then assumes to create a perfect mimicry of the body language messages, be it in their brain or physically. Thus, by assuming the conditions upon themselves, they realize how they now feel by doing what you are doing, and hence-- can correctly identify the feelings and emotions associated.

Where things get really interesting is when you get the claims of empathy that are projections, or reach across incredibly vast distances, with no actual physical cues available.

Those are far rarer, and now, we must get into the realm of the mind.