Effects of Empathic Paraphrasing – Extrinsic Emotion Regulation in Social Conflict

Abstract

In the present study, we investigated the effects of empathic paraphrasing as an extrinsic emotion regulation technique in social conflict. We hypothesized that negative emotions elicited by social conflict can be regulated extrinsically in a conversation by a listener following the narrator’s perspective and verbally expressing cognitive empathy. Twenty participants were interviewed on an ongoing or recently self-experienced social conflict. The interviewer utilized 10 standardized open questions inviting participants to describe their perception of the conflict. After each of the 10 descriptions, the interviewer responded by either paraphrasing or taking notes (control condition). Valence ratings pertaining to the current emotional state were assessed during the interview along with psychophysiological and voice recordings. Participants reported feeling less negative after hearing the interviewer paraphrase what they had said. In addition, we found a lower sound intensity of participants’ voices when answering to questions following a paraphrase. At the physiological level, skin conductance response, as well as heart rate, were higher during paraphrasing than during taking notes, while blood volume pulse amplitude was lower during paraphrasing, indicating higher autonomic arousal. The results show that demonstrating cognitive empathy through paraphrasing can extrinsically regulate negative emotion on a short-term basis. Paraphrasing led to enhanced autonomic activation in recipients, while at the same time influencing emotional valence in the direction of feeling better. A possible explanation for these results is that being treated in an empathic manner may stimulate a more intense emotion processing helping to transform and resolve the conflict.

I understand you feel that way, but I feel this way: the benefits of I-language and communicating perspective during conflict

“…The primary mechanisms provided in the literature to explain the underlying benefits of communicating perspective is that it fosters a greater sense of ‘feeling heard’, and mutual understanding (Ames, 2008; Ames & Wazlawek, 2014; Bruneau & Saxe, 2012; Howieson & Priddis, 2011; Lee et al, 2015). It also fosters a sense of openness, transparency, and honesty that maximises perceived politeness and minimises perceived hostility (Howieson & Priddis, 2015; Ingerson, DeTienne & Liljenquist, 2015; Kellas, Willer & Trees, 2013; Kidder, 2017; Seehausen et al, 2012). The primary mechanisms to explain a benefit of I-language over you-language are that I-language indicates a recognition of providing a specific point of view that is open for discussion (Burr, 1990), and that you-language can at times be perceived as accusatory (Kubany et al, 1992a, 1992b).…”

“…For example, by explicitly stating what you perceive is the other’s point of view by saying something like ‘What I’m hearing is that perhaps you aren’t seeing enough evidence of appreciation and so feel like you’re being taken for granted’. Seehausen et al (2012) demonstrated the utility of paraphrasing by interviewing participants (interviewees) about a recent social conflict while varying interviewer responses across participants as simple note taking or paraphrasing. Interviewees receiving paraphrase responses reported feeling less negative emotion associated with the conflict compared to interviewees receiving note taking responses.…”

Recent innovations in the field of interpersonal emotion regulation

“…Several studies have demonstrated that distinct IER strategies may have maladaptive or adaptive consequences, depending on the domain assessed. For instance, one experiment compared an extrinsic IER strategy (empathic paraphrasing) to a control condition (note-taking) and examined the subjective and physiological consequences on targets following a discussion of social conflict [34]. Results demonstrated that, in response to paraphrase, participants exhibited higher physiological arousal, but lower vocal intensity and self-reported distress.…”

Social Cognitive Training Improves Emotional Processing and Reduces Aggressive Attitudes in Ex-combatants

“…Petroni et al (2011) found that the recognition of face valence is associated to the ability to read others' intentions. EP has also been linked to responses during social conflicts (Seehausen et al, 2012, 2014). Taken together this evidence suggests that EP is crucial for rapidly and accurately scanning the environment in the search of cues that can trigger adaptive social responses.…”