Empathic Accuracy [Hardcover]

William Ickes (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1572301619 | ISBN-13: 978-1572301610 | Publication Date: January 15, 1997 | Edition: 1

Empathic inference, or "everyday-mind reading", is a form of complex psychological inference in which observation, memory, knowledge, and reasoning are combined to yield insights into the subjective experience of others. This comprehensive volume addresses the question of how accurate our "readings" of thoughts and feelings of others actually are, introducing two innovative methods for objectivity measuring this key dimension of social intelligence. Presenting cutting-edge research in this emerging area, the volume offers essential insights into how and why people sometimes succeed, and sometimes fail, in their attempts to understand each other. Leading experts cover such topics as the evolutionary and social-developmental origins of empathic accuracy; physiological aspects of empathic accuracy; gender and other individual difference variables; empathic accuracy and processes of mental control; the dynamic role of empathic accuracy in personal and psychotherapeutic relationships; and the relation of empathic accuracy to applied domains in psychology. This book will be of interest to students, researchers, and professionals in a range of disciplines, including personality and social psychology, clinical and counseling psychology, communication, developmental psychology, and marriage and family studies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The book is a compendium of state-of-the-art research on one of the most important and interesting topics at the interface of social and personality psychology--when and how do we know what another person is thinking and feeling? The 11 chapters cover a wide range of research and theory, and the level of their quality is amazingly even: Each one is excellent. William Ickes, one of the major contributors to this research area, has done an impressive job recruiting a real 'Who's Who' of researchers to contribute to his book. The book provides a necessary and perhaps even sufficient education for any reader interested in what psychologists have learned about empathic accuracy. It presents new data, meta-analyses, and several theoretical perspectives both old and new. This book is a 'must-have' for anybody doing research on empathy or accuracy in personality judgement, and would also make a terrific resource for constructing up-to-date course lectures in social and personality psychology. The fields of social and personality psychology seem to be becoming more interrelated and more interesting all the time; the book demonstrates one important reason why." --David F. Funder, Department of Psychology, University of California, Riverside

"This groundbreaking book refines our grasp of a fundamental concept--the empathic understanding of another person's thoughts and feelings. Extending beyond the more traditional definitions of empathy that focus on emotional matching in one's own and another's feelings, the concept of empathic accuracy provides the building blocks for interpersonal skills and healthy relationships. Attesting to this, the present volume includes contributions from some of the most renowned researchers in the area of interpersonal relationships, and also from an illustrious set of researchers examining individual differences in empathy and its development. The relevance to clinical issues is also an important theme in the book and is handled in a cogent, helpful way. William Ickes's research on empathic accuracy has quietly revolutionized the field, and this is reflected in the present volume. His work has not only uncovered basic processes in empathic understanding, but has also contributed to our understanding of the ways in which empathic accuracy is of profound societal significance. Drawing together this exceptional set of experts to address empathic accuracy in a single volume is a major contribution. The book is likely to be widely read by professionals and graduate students alike, and to become a standard in the field." --Susan M. Andersen, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, New York University; Former Associate Editor of Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

"The chapters in this book bring to bear a rigorous scientific approach to the study of empathic accuracy. Introducing ideas from evolutionary theory, psychophysiology, and social cognition, these chapters provide refreshing and thought-provoking new perspectives for the study of empathic accuracy. This unique volume will likely set the agenda for the next generation of theorizing and research. It is a 'must' read for anyone interested in how empathy affects human interaction." --Harry T. Reis, Ph.D., University of Rochester

About the Author

William Ickes, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington, has studied naturally occurring social interaction for two decades. His research over the past ten years has focused more specifically on naturally occurring social cognition and empathic accuracy.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press; 1 edition (January 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572301619
• ISBN-13: 978-1572301610
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,737,287 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

William Ickes is a Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington. His 20-year program of research on empathic accuracy, which resulted in three international research awards, is summarized in his 2003 book Everyday Mind Reading. His 30-year program of research on personality influences on initial interactions is summarized in his 2009 book Strangers in a Strange Lab.