Empathy, as part of the transference relationship, is crucial for the understanding of all interpersonal relationships. Because empathy is 'disciplined by good will' it is also basic to ethics. In empathy there is free interchange of ideas; therefore it provides an ideal medium for the exploration of human behavior. 'Resistance' in the empathic process chiefly means respect for another, and identification and resistance constitute the matrix from which good will develops. Empathy is the psychological ground of personal identity and communication.