Abstract
The current study sought to better understand the utility of two strategies—perspective-taking and facial mimicry—proposed to increase empathic responding. Thirty-seven female participants were presented an interpersonal situation (a betrayal) that would elicit the use of empathic responding to achieve conflict resolution between friends. Each participant was given instructions to partake in either perspective-taking, facial mimicry, or to remain neutral (control condition). The results demonstrated that individuals who engaged in perspective-taking reported significantly higher state empathy than the control condition, but there was no significant difference in state empathy between the mimicry and control condition. Also, those who engaged in either strategy reported significantly higher self-other overlap relative to those not instructed to engage in a particular strategy. Importantly, self-other overlap mediated the association between the instructional sets and state empathy. Both strategies are arguably means of enhancing interpersonal understanding.
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Notes
The infraction was deemed more consistent with the nature of female than male friendships, and thus, only female participants were used for the study. Female friendships are characterized as emphasizing intimacy and security relative to males’ more functional relationships (Vigil 2007).
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This study was funded by National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (T32-HD07376).
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Cooke, A.N., Bazzini, D.G., Curtin, L.A. et al. Empathic understanding: Benefits of perspective-taking and facial mimicry instructions are mediated by self-other overlap. Motiv Emot 42, 446–457 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9671-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9671-9