The effect of perspective taking on communication to those in need

Social perception;Interpersonal communication;Empathy

Whirry-Achten, AngelaLishner, David ;

University of Wisconsin

关键词: Social perception;    Interpersonal communication;    Empathy;   

Others  :  https://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/61620/Whirry-Achten%2c%20Angela.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

瑞士|英语

来源: University of Wisconsin

【 摘 要 】

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of perspective taking onempathic communication styles. Previous research has shown that the experience ofempathy can be manipulated by instructing participants to adopt one of threeperspectives, either to remain objective while observing the target person, to imagine howthe target feels (imagine other), or to imagine how they would feel to be the target(imagine self). Participants in this study adopted one of these perspectives whilewatching a recording of a target in need. The target was a female describing a recentbreak-up with her boyfriend. Participants were led to believe that the target was also aparticipant in the study, with the same target video used for every participant. Followingthe viewing, participants rated their emotional responses to the video and then recorded aresponse to the target?s communication. The recorded responses were then evaluated byjudges who were blind to experimental condition to determine if perspective takingaffected communication style. As predicted, participants in the imagine-other conditionreported feeling more empathic concern than did those in the objective condition. Alsoas predicted, participants in the imagine-self condition reported feeling more personaldistress than those in the objective group. Despite these differences in emotionalreactions, the judges? ratings of participants? communications revealed no significantdifferences in communication style between conditions. The results suggest that althoughdifferent forms of perspective taking create different emotional reactions to those in need,these reactions may not manifest in different communication styles when observersverbally communicate with the person in need. Limitations and implications of thesefindings are discussed.