TY - JOUR
T1 - When the Head Protects the Heart
T2 - Empathic Accuracy in Dating Relationships
AU - Simpson, Jeffry A.
AU - Ickes, William
AU - Blackstone, Tami
PY - 1995/10
Y1 - 1995/10
N2 - This study investigated circumstances in which romantic partners may be motivated to in accurately infer each other's thoughts and feelings. Dating couples rated and discussed pictures of opposite-sex people with whom they might later interact in a dating context. Couples evaluated either highly attractive persons or less attractive persons. As predicted, dating partners who were close, who were insecure about their relationship, and who evaluated highly attractive opposite-sex persons displayed the least empathic accuracy when they tried to infer each other's actual thoughts and feelings from the videotape of the rating and discussion task. The effects of these variables were additive, and they were mediated by the degree of perceived threat to the relationship. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
AB - This study investigated circumstances in which romantic partners may be motivated to in accurately infer each other's thoughts and feelings. Dating couples rated and discussed pictures of opposite-sex people with whom they might later interact in a dating context. Couples evaluated either highly attractive persons or less attractive persons. As predicted, dating partners who were close, who were insecure about their relationship, and who evaluated highly attractive opposite-sex persons displayed the least empathic accuracy when they tried to infer each other's actual thoughts and feelings from the videotape of the rating and discussion task. The effects of these variables were additive, and they were mediated by the degree of perceived threat to the relationship. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed.
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U2 - 10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.629
DO - 10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.629
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:39749145057
SN - 0022-3514
VL - 69
SP - 629
EP - 641
JO - Journal of personality and social psychology
JF - Journal of personality and social psychology
IS - 4
ER -