appliedempathics begins with a special kind of inquiry-empathic inquiry-which is always centered on the other person's emotional reactions. Its goal, first and foremost, is to validate, thereby allaying worries and concerns, engendering trust, and helping the person feel uniquely understood so that he or she will feel better about themselves and more likely to express deeper feelings, moods, emotions, and sentiments. Empathic inquiry requires an ability to ask questions that gently elicit emotional response and a high degree of receptivity and attentiveness so that the often subtle cues being expressed can be received and understood. While empathic inquiry, by itself, will help people feel good, it is also used to gather insights into the 'how's' and 'why's' of a person's feelings and sentiments. According to neuroscientists, the brain attaches an emotion marker and cognitive associations (words, symbols) to many events and experiences, especially those related to "pleasure" or "pain", to help with recall. Therapists use special analytical methods, such as free-association, guided imagery, autobiographical exercises and role-playing, to penetrate regions of the brain where emotion markers and cognitive associations are stored. This process requires the steady attention of a trained clinician because many people unconsciously resist dealing with emotion-laden material or have "repressed recall" which must be excited using special analytical techniques. Psychotherapists use this data to help their clients "work-through" and diffuse emotional knots, while reinforcing those positive markers and associations that help a person feel good about themselves and their world. These same techniques are used in appliedempathics to identify both positive and negative emotion markers and cognitive associations related to specific products, services, topics, and experiences. By identifying the brand's emotional "debts" and "assets", the stage is set for designing a brand identity and communications strategy that maximizes the value of this intelligence in the marketplace.