When Accuracy Hurts, and When It Helps: A Test of the Empathic Accuracy Model in Marital Interactions

This study tested predictions from W. Ickes and J. A. Simpson's (1997 , 2001 ) empathic accuracy model. Married couples were videotaped as they tried to resolve a problem in their marriage. Both spouses then viewed a videotape of the interaction, recorded the thoughts and feelings they had at s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of personality and social psychology 2003-11, Vol.85 (5), p.881-893
Main Authors: Simpson, Jeffry A, Oriña, M. Minda, Ickes, William
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Accuracy
Adult
Analysis
Avoidance
Biological and medical sciences
Conflict (Psychology)
Couple and family
Couples
Defense Mechanisms
Emotions
Empathy
Female
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Human
Humans
Interpersonal Interaction
Intimacy
Male
Marital Conflict
Marital Relations
Marriage
Marriage - psychology
Models, Psychological
Personal relationships
Personality Assessment
Problem Solving
Prospective Studies
Psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Social psychology
Social relations
Threat
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Summary:This study tested predictions from W. Ickes and J. A. Simpson's (1997 , 2001 ) empathic accuracy model. Married couples were videotaped as they tried to resolve a problem in their marriage. Both spouses then viewed a videotape of the interaction, recorded the thoughts and feelings they had at specific time points, and tried to infer their partner's thoughts and feelings. Consistent with the model, when the partner's thoughts and feelings were relationship-threatening (as rated by both the partners and by trained observers), greater empathic accuracy on the part of the perceiver was associated with pre-to-posttest declines in the perceiver's feelings of subjective closeness. The reverse was true when the partner's thoughts and feelings were nonthreatening. Exploratory analyses revealed that these effects were partially mediated through observer ratings of the degree to which partners tried to avoid the discussion issue.
ISSN:0022-3514
1939-1315
DOI:10.1037/0022-3514.85.5.881