Two to tango - redux

[Guest guest]

To all, ...of possible interest:

Jamil Zaki, Niall Bolger, Ochsner (2008)

It Takes Two: The Interpersonal Nature of Empathic Accuracy

Psychological Science 19(4),399-404 [April 2008]

NB: All authors are at Columbia University.

Non-members of the APS may find direct access is blocked; so I've

reproduced the Abstract below. My comment follows that.

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ABSTRACT [Paragraph breaks are mine. -wdl]

Although current theories suggest that affective empathy (perceivers'

experience of social targets' emotions) should contribute to empathic

accuracy (perceivers' ability to accurately assess targets' emotions),

extant research has failed to consistently demonstrate a correspondence

between them.

We reasoned that prior null findings may be attributable to a failure

to account for the fundamentally interpersonal nature of empathy, and

tested the prediction that empathic accuracy may depend on both targets'

tendency to express emotion and perceivers' tendency to empathically

share that emotion.

Using a continuous affect-rating paradigm, we found that perceivers'

trait affective empathy was unrelated to empathic accuracy unless

targets' trait expressivity was taken into account: Perceivers' trait

affective empathy predicted accuracy only for expressive targets. These

data suggest that perceivers' self-reported affective empathy can indeed

predict their empathic accuracy, but only when targets' expressivity

allows their thoughts and feelings to be read.

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What this means is that BOTH partners in a relationship must be capable,

themselves, of displaying " affective empathy " (show emotion) for ONE of

them to be able to " read " the other with any accuracy.

This could be *very* important in AS/NT relationships: one partner

(usually the AS) typically isn't very emotional (overtly) and seems to

have little empathy. In this case, *neither* partner will be able to

" read " the other accurately.

Most especially the *NT*, regardless of what they feel their skill

may be in " reading " others, frequently will be wrong.

As I and others have said here often: " It takes two to tango " - one

can't do it alone. That goes especially for NTs who believe they've

unilaterally got their AS partner " figured out " .

NB: BUT... another article in the same journal/issue points out that

purely cognitive perception can and often does compensate for empathic

lacks in adults.

That might imply an AS (cognitively well-endowed, often) could " read "

their NT partner better than the NT can read them.

Together, these results imply a reversal of the current " conventional

wisdom " regarding communication and other " social " aspects of AS/NT

relationships. Worth pondering.

- Bill, 75, AS; married 40-yrs, 2nd time 'round.

--

WD " Bill " Loughman - Berkeley, California USA

http://home.earthlink.net/~wdloughman/wdl.htm