Motivation and empathic accuracy during conflict interactions in couples: it's complicated!

The aim of this study was to broadly investigate the role of relationship-, self-, and partner-serving motivation in empathic accuracy in couples' conflict interactions. To this end, a laboratory study was set up in which couples (n = 172) participated in a conflict interaction task, followed immediately by a video-review task during which they reported their own feelings and thoughts and inferred those of their partner to assess empathic accuracy. We used both trait and state measures of relationship-, self-, and partner-serving motivation, and we experimentally induced these three categories of motivation. Relationship-serving state motivation predicted greater empathic accuracy. In contrast, experimentally induced partner-serving motivation resulted in less empathic accuracy for men. Self-serving motivation was not found to be associated with empathic accuracy, nor were any of the trait measures. These findings underscore the complexity of the association between motivation and empathic accuracy in partners' conflict interactions. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11031-022-09982-x.

Expressing thoughts and feelings leads to greater empathic accuracy during relationship conflict.

Many couple therapies focus on enhancing the disclosure of thoughts and feelings, and on an accurate understanding of these. But does the expression of thoughts and feelings lead to better empathic accuracy, as is generally assumed? In this study, we explicitly tested a dynamic expression-leading-to-accuracy account of empathic accuracy in intimate relationships. Specifically, in the conflict interactions of 155 mixed-sex couples, we investigated (a) whether greater momentary expressions of the target (self-reported vs. observed) were associated with more empathic accuracy in the perceiver; (b) whether this outcome was similar for the expression of thoughts versus feelings; and (c) whether the expression-leading-to-accuracy link was moderated by the perceived threat level of these thoughts and feelings. The data revealed that greater (self-reported and observed) expression of the target's thoughts and feelings was associated with better empathic accuracy by the partner; that this association was similar for thoughts and feelings; and that this link was not moderated by the perceived threat level of these thoughts and feelings. These findings confirm a fundamental assumption of couples therapy and have important implications for therapeutic interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Dark Triad trait of psychopathy and message framing predict risky decision-making during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The effects of framing on risky decision-making have been studied extensively in research using Kahneman and Tversky's (1981) hypothetical scenario about a contagious Asian disease. The COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to test how message framing affects risky decision-making when millions of real lives are at stake worldwide. In a sample of US adults (N = 294), we investigated the effects of message framing and personality (Dark Triad traits) in relation to risky decision-making during the COVID-19 crisis. We found that both gain- and loss-framing influenced risk choice in response to COVID-19. People were more risk-averse in the loss condition of the current study compared to the benchmark established by Tversky and Kahneman (1981). Among the Dark Triad traits, psychopathy emerged as the significant predictor of risk taking, suggesting that people who score high in psychopathy are more likely to gamble with other people's lives during the COVID-19 crisis. We suggest that both voters and pandemic-related public awareness campaigns should consider the possibility that decision-makers with psychopathic tendencies may take greater risks with other people's lives during a pandemic. In addition, the framing of public-health messages should be tailored to increase the chances of compliance with government restrictions.

Side Streets and U-Turns: Effects of Context Switching, Direction Switching, and Factor Switching on Interitem Correlations and Misresponse Rates.

This study tested implications of the context switching perspective proposed by Hamby, Ickes, and Babcock ( 2016 ). Using trained raters to assess the amount of reframing required to interpret the meaning of the subsequent (second) item within all adjacent item pairs, we first established that this process variable could be measured reliably. Then, in the data for 18 personality measures drawn from 3 individual-difference domains, we found that the amount of reframing (i.e., context switching) needed to interpret successive items predicted both lower interitem correlations and a greater percentage of misresponders. Similarly, item pairs that were mismatched in "directional" wording also predicted both lower interitem correlations and more misresponders. Finally, item pairs representing different factors predicted lower interitem correlations. Although the effects of direction switching and factor switching were partially mediated by the amount of reframing required, they remained significant even when the mediating effect of reframing was statistically controlled. These results indicate that interpreting the meaning of test items is a task for which the level of difficulty can vary with each successive item, as a function of how the current item compares to the previous item in aspects such as its context generality or specificity, directional wording, and content domain.

Women Interact More Comfortably and Intimately With Gay Men-But Not Straight Men-After Learning Their Sexual Orientation.

Research suggests that the development of close, opposite-sex friendships is frequently impeded by men's often one-sided sexual attraction to women. But what if this element were removed? The current research tested the hypothesis that women engage in more comfortable and intimate interactions with a gay (but not a straight) man immediately after discovering his sexual orientation. In two studies, female participants engaged in imagined or actual initial interactions with either a straight man or a gay man. After the man's sexual orientation was revealed, women (particularly attractive ones) who were paired with a gay man reported greater anticipated comfort, which was mediated by their reduced worry about his sexual intentions (Study 1). Further, once women discovered that they were interacting with a gay man, they displayed more intimate engagement behaviors with him (Study 2). These findings reveal how, and why, close relationships often form quickly between women and gay men.

Why Women Wear High Heels: Evolution, Lumbar Curvature, and Attractiveness.

Despite the widespread use of high-heeled footwear in both developing and modernized societies, we lack an understanding of this behavioral phenomenon at both proximate and distal levels of explanation. The current manuscript advances and tests a novel, evolutionarily anchored hypothesis for why women wear high heels, and provides convergent support for this hypothesis across multiple methods. Using a recently discovered evolved mate preference, we hypothesized that high heels influence women's attractiveness via effects on their lumbar curvature. Independent studies that employed distinct methods, eliminated multiple confounds, and ruled out alternative explanations showed that when women wear high heels, their lumbar curvature increased and they were perceived as more attractive. Closer analysis revealed an even more precise pattern aligning with human evolved psychology: high-heeled footwear increased women's attractiveness only when wearing heels altered their lumbar curvature to be closer to an evolutionarily optimal angle. These findings illustrate how human evolved psychology can contribute to and intersect with aspects of cultural evolution, highlighting that the two are not independent or autonomous processes but rather are deeply intertwined.

Empathic accuracy and relationship satisfaction: A meta-analytic review.

Empathic accuracy (EA; Ickes & Hodges, 2013) is the extent to which people accurately perceive their peers' thoughts, feelings, and other inner mental states. EA has particularly interested researchers in the context of romantic couples. Reviews of the literature suggest a possible link between romantic partners' EA and their relationship satisfaction (Ickes & Simpson, 2001; Sillars & Scott, 1983). To assess the magnitude of this association and examine possible moderators, we performed a meta-analytic review of 21 studies (total N = 2,739 participants) that examined the association between EA and satisfaction. We limited our review to studies measuring EA using the dyadic interaction paradigm (Ickes, Stinson, Bissonnette, & Garcia, 1990). We found a small but significant association between the two (r = .134, p < .05). Subsequent moderation analyses demonstrated that EA for negative emotions (one's accuracy when assessing a partner's negative emotions) was more closely related to satisfaction (r = .171, p < .05) than EA for positive ones (r = .068, p > .1). The association was also stronger in relationships of moderate length, suggesting that EA may be more meaningful when relationships are consolidating but before they become stable. Gender and procedural variations on the dyadic interaction paradigm did not moderate the association, and there was no difference depending on whether the association was between EA and perceivers' or targets' satisfaction (i.e., actor or partner effects). We discuss the implications of these findings and offer recommendations for future EA studies. (PsycINFO Database Record

Why (and When) Straight Women Trust Gay Men: Ulterior Mating Motives and Female Competition.

Previous findings indicate that heterosexual women experience a greater sense of comfort and trust in their friendships with gay men than in their friendships with heterosexual individuals. In the present studies, we tested a hypothesis that not only explains why women exhibit increased trust in gay men but also yields novel predictions about when (i.e., in what contexts) this phenomenon is likely to occur. Specifically, we propose that gay men's lack of motives to mate with women or to compete with them for mates enhances women's trust in gay men and openness to befriend them. Study 1 demonstrated that women placed greater trust in a gay man's mating-but not non-mating (e.g., career) advice-than in the same advice given by heterosexual individuals. Study 2 showed that women perceived a gay man to be more sincere in scenarios relevant to sexual and competitive mating deception. In Study 3, exposing women to a visualization of increased mating competition enhanced their trust in gay men; when mating competition was salient, women's trust in mating information from a gay man was amplified. Study 4 showed that women who perceived higher levels of mating competition were more open to befriending gay men. Together, these converging findings support our central hypothesis, which not only provides a distal explanation for the trust that straight women place in gay men, but also provides novel insights into previously unidentified contexts that facilitate the formation and strengthening of this unique bond.

Evidence for Context Switching in the Effects of Average Item Length and Item-Length Variability on Internal Consistency.

This investigation examined the effects of 3 item characteristics-the average number of words per item, within-scale variability in item length, and item "direction"-on internal consistency reliability and interitem correlation. In Study 1, we examined the effects of these variables on overall scale-level reliability using 444 subscales from 9 personality scales. In Study 2, we examined interitem correlation at the paired-item level using 477 nonredundant item pairs from 14 personality scales. Lower scale reliability was associated with more average words per item, greater within-scale variability in item length, and a greater percentage of reverse-keyed items. Similarly, smaller interitem correlations were associated with a greater degree of mismatch in item length between the paired items and with a mismatch (vs. match) in the items' respective "directions." The pattern of results across both studies supports our notion that lower internal consistency results from increased context switching; that is, from the confusion that occurs when respondents must switch back and forth between the interpretive frames pertaining to short versus long items, or between items pertaining to one pole of a personality dimension and its "opposite" pole. Suggestions for maximizing the internal consistency of personality scales are proposed.

The Role of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Spouses' Support Interactions: An Observational Study.

The present study examined how support providers' empathic dispositions (dispositional perspective taking, empathic concern, and personal distress) as well as their situational empathic reactions (interaction-based perspective taking, empathic concern, and personal distress) relate to the provision of spousal support during observed support interactions. Forty-five committed couples provided questionnaire data and participated in two ten-minute social support interactions designed to assess behaviors when partners are offering and soliciting social support. A video-review task was used to assess situational forms of perspective taking (e.g., empathic accuracy), empathic concern and personal distress. Data were analyzed by means of the multi-level Actor-Partner Interdependence Model. Results revealed that providers scoring higher on affective empathy (i.e., dispositional empathic concern), provided lower levels of negative support. In addition, for male partners, scoring higher on cognitive empathy (i.e., situational perspective taking) was related to lower levels of negative support provision. For both partners, higher scores on cognitive empathy (i.e., situational perspective taking) correlated with more instrumental support provision. Male providers scoring higher on affective empathy (i.e., situational personal distress) provided higher levels of instrumental support. Dispositional perspective taking was related to higher scores on emotional support provision for male providers. The current study furthers our insight into the empathy-support link, by revealing differential effects (a) for men and women, (b) of both cognitive and affective empathy, and

Demand behavior and empathic accuracy in observed conflict interactions in couples.

The study reported in this research note sought to extend the research on motivated empathic accuracy by exploring whether intimate partners who are highly motivated to induce change in their partner during conflicts will be more empathically accurate than partners who are less motivated. In a laboratory experiment, the partners within 26 cohabiting couples were randomly assigned the role of conflict initiator. The partners provided questionnaire data, participated in a videotaped conflict interaction, and completed a video-review task. More blaming behavior was associated with higher levels of empathic accuracy, irrespective of whether one was the conflict initiator or not. The results also showed a two-way interaction indicating that initiators who applied more pressure on their partners to change were less empathically accurate than initiators who applied less pressure, whereas their partners could counter this pressure when they could accurately "read" the initiator's thoughts and feelings.

Attachment and the management of empathic accuracy in relationship-threatening situations.

The current studies tested how attachment orientations are related to empathic accuracy (i.e., the accuracy with which one infers a partner's private thoughts and feelings) during attachment-relevant discussions. In Study 1, married couples were videotaped discussing a severe or a less severe relationship issue that involved intimacy or jealousy. In Study 2, dating couples were videotaped trying to resolve a relationship conflict. Consistent with the revised empathic accuracy model, highly avoidant individuals were less empathically accurate in both studies. Relative to less anxious persons, highly anxious individuals were more empathically accurate when discussing intimacy issues that posed a potential threat to their relationship (in Study 1) and when they were rated as more distressed when discussing a relationship conflict (in Study 2). The findings are discussed in terms of how highly anxious and highly avoidant people differentially manage empathic accuracy to regulate negative affect and facilitate their interpersonal goals.

Big Five predictors of behavior and perceptions in initial dyadic interactions: personality similarity helps extraverts and introverts, but hurts "disagreeables".

The authors used the unstructured dyadic interaction paradigm to examine the effects of gender and the Big Five personality traits on dyad members' behaviors and perceptions in 87 initial, unstructured interactions. Most of the significant Big Five effects (84%) were associated with the traits of Extraversion and Agreeableness. There were several significant actor and partner effects for both of these traits. However, the most interesting and novel effects took the form of significant Actor x Partner interactions. Personality similarity resulted in relatively good initial interactions for dyads composed of 2 extraverts or 2 introverts, when compared with dissimilar (extravert-introvert) pairs. However, personality similarity resulted in uniquely poor initial interactions for dyads composed of 2 "disagreeables." In summary, the Big Five traits predict behavior and perceptions in initial dyadic interactions, not just in the form of actor and partner "main effects" but also in the form of Actor x Partner interactions.

The role of empathic accuracy in adolescents' peer relations and adjustment.

This study investigated whether children's empathic accuracy is associated with their peer relationships and adjustment. It also examined whether, and how, empathic accuracy moderated the known influence of peer relations on adjustment. Participants were 116 (58 boys) fifth-through eighth-graders. At school, child participants completed measures assessing their peer relationships. In the lab, child participants completed a performance-based measure of empathic accuracy and measures of adjustment. Teachers and parents also provided assessments. Results revealed that children who were less adept at inferring other people's thoughts and feelings were more likely to experience adjustment problems. Empathic accuracy acted as a buffer against adjustment problems when peer relationships were poor: Previously found links between poor peer relationships and poor adjustment were found for adolescents with low empathic accuracy but not for those with high empathic accuracy.

Evidence that a simpático self-schema accounts for differences in the self-concepts and social behavior of Latinos versus Whites (and Blacks).

On the basis of the assumption that Latino Americans use a simpático self-schema more than White Americans do, the authors predicted that the effects of this difference would be evident in the participants' self-concepts and social behavior. As predicted, Studies 1 and 2 revealed that Latino participants reported significantly more simpático-related terms in their spontaneous self-concepts than did White participants. Complementing these findings, Study 3a revealed that the level of interactional involvement and the perceived quality of initial same-sex interactions was significantly enhanced by the presence of Latino dyad members. Study 3b tested the prediction that the content of the dyad members' thoughts and feelings would reveal a greater use of the simpático self-schema by the Latino participants. This prediction was confirmed, and follow-up analyses indicated that a simpático self-schema plays an important mediating role in the subjective experience and social behavior of Latino individuals.

Support provision in marriage: the role of emotional similarity and empathic accuracy.

The goal of this investigation was to identify microlevel processes in the support provider that may foster or inhibit the provision of spousal support. Specifically, the authors focused on (a) how emotional similarity between the support provider and support seeker and (b) how empathic accuracy of the support provider relate to support provision in marriage. In a laboratory experiment, 30 couples were randomly assigned to 1 of 2 conditions (support provider: man vs. woman) of a factorial design. The couples provided questionnaire data and participated in a social support interaction designed to assess behaviors when offering and soliciting social support. A video-review task was used to assess emotional similarity and empathic accuracy during the support interaction. As expected, greater similarity between the support provider's and support seeker's emotional responses, as well as more accurate insights into the support-seeking spouse's thoughts and feelings were found to be predictive of more skilful support (i.e., higher levels of emotional and instrumental support and lower levels of negative types of support).

Brief report: The accuracy of parents for the thoughts and feelings of their adolescent suffering from chronic fatigue: a preliminary study of empathy.

OBJECTIVE: This study examined the actual and estimated empathic accuracy (EA) of the parents of adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). METHODS: The actual EA of both parents (n = 24) was assessed in relation to the thoughts and feelings of their child (n = 14) about CFS and about other life events. Adolescents were also asked to estimate the parents' EA. RESULTS: For the actual EA, both parents were significantly less accurate regarding the adolescent's thoughts and feelings about CFS than about other life events. Fathers were just as empathically accurate as mothers. For the estimated EA, however, results indicated that adolescents perceived their mother to be more empathically accurate than their father. Actual EA and estimated EA about CFS were negatively correlated for fathers, not for mothers. CONCLUSIONS: Results are discussed in terms of the importance of assessing EA in relation to other dimensions of empathic understanding and distress in the observer.

Self-monitoring in social interaction: the centrality of self-affect.

In this review, we examine the role of self-monitoring in social interaction. We first note that the presumed ease with which self-monitors adapt to new social contexts is more apparent than real, being the self-conscious outcome of (1) high self-monitors' preference for clearly defined situations, (2) their use of scripts regarding typical situations, (3) their ability to formulate effective plans of action before social encounters, and (4) their ability to use other people's behavior as a guide. We then examine the strong motive of high self-monitors to express and evoke high levels of positive affect in their interpersonal relationships. Two recent unstructured dyadic interaction studies lead us to argue that the primary concern of high self-monitors during social interaction is to regulate their own self-affect through effective impression management. In this sense, it really is the self that is closely monitored whenever self-monitoring processes influence social interaction.

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 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.