The ability to "put myself in another's shoes" is not enough for an entity to have empathy. Empathy requires the additional application of good or bad meaning to my idea of experiencing what the other entity is experiencing. Furthermore, there needs to be some acknowledgment that the other entity can feel the imagined experience, that the other entity applies a good or bad meaning to the experience, and then I must apply a good or bad meaning to that acknowledgment & realization.

#6 in the list below is basically the definition of empathy, but I think all the rest are necessary for empathy as well. (By "apply a good or bad meaning", in #6, I am talking about my feelings, sort of, as in "I feel good or bad".)

The Steps of Empathy
1. I perceive another entity.
2. I perceive something happen involving the entity.
3. I imagine myself experiencing the event in the other entity's position, as it experiences it.
4. I acknowledge that the other entity is indeed experiencing the event.
5. I believe that the entity applies a good or bad meaning to its experience.
6. I apply a good or bad meaning to the other entity's good/bad experience that is congruent (or at least similar to) the other entity's application of good or bad to its experience.

My question is:
Is #3 a necessary part of being empathetic? Is "imagining myself experiencing what the other entity is experiencing" simply selfish, and therefore should not be included? Or is it a necessary step toward knowing that the other entity's experience is real?

Or... What do you think about my whole assessment of empathy in general?