Abstract
Common wisdom tells us that we need to walk a mile in other people’s shoes if we want to understand their perspective. We hypothesized that this simulation increases individuals’ empathic concern but not their accurate understanding of each other’s situation (interpersonal accuracy). We argued that the latter only increases through directly asking about others’ viewpoint (getting perspective). Participants met up with a stranger (target), assessed the target’s attitude on a wide range of topics (interpersonal accuracy), and reported their empathic concern towards the target. Beforehand, participants either (1) got the target’s perspective on these topics in a five-minute discussion, (2) mimicked the target’s facial expressions while watching her explain her experiences with the topics, or (3) watched the target’s explanation without mimicking her. Getting the target’s perspective increased participants’ interpersonal accuracy versus the mimicry and control conditions. However, the mimicry instructions did not improve individuals’ empathic concern compared to the other two conditions.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 2022 |
Event | Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCOP) - Lille, France Duration: 29 Aug 2022 → 1 Sept 2022 Conference number: 22 https://www.escop.eu/events/22nd-escop-conference |
Conference
Conference | Conference of the European Society for Cognitive Psychology (ESCOP) |
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Country/Territory | France |
City | Lille |
Period | 29/08/22 → 1/09/22 |
Internet address |