I know you're me, but who am I? Perspective taking and seeing the other in the self

Laurent, Sean M.; Myers, Michael W.

doi:10.1016/j.jesp.2011.05.018

Cited by 37 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…As we discussed earlier, researchers have shown that perspective takers both see aspects of themselves in their targets as well as see aspects of their targets in themselves (Epley et al, 2004;Galinsky, Wang, & Ku, 2008;Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000;Goldstein & Cialdini, 2007;Laurent & Myers, 2011). We expect that like the act of perspective taking, the sense of enhanced self-other overlap that results from having one's perspective taken is bidirectional.…”

Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Perceived perspective taking: When others walk in our shoes.

Goldstein¹,

Vezich²,

Shapiro³

2014

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

127

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A great deal of psychological research has investigated the influence of perspective taking on individuals, indicating that perspective taking increases the extent to which people like, feel a sense of self-other overlap with, and help those whose perspective they take. However, previous investigations of the topic have been limited to the study of the perspective taker, rather than the individual whose perspective has been taken. The purpose of the current work is to begin to fill this large gap in the literature by examining the consequences of believing that another individual is taking one's perspective, a phenomenon we refer to as perceived perspective taking. Over a series of 6 experiments, we demonstrate that perceiving that one's perspective has been taken confers many of the same interpersonal benefits as taking another's perspective. Specifically, our data suggest that believing that another person has successfully taken one's perspective results in an increased liking for, a greater sense of self-other overlap with, and more help provided to that person. Consistent with predictions, we find that one's self-other overlap with the perspective taker and the amount of empathy one perceives the perspective taker to feel operate in tandem to mediate the link between perceived perspective taking and liking for the perspective taker. Further, a mediational path from perceived perspective taking to helping behavior through liking is supported. Future directions are discussed, along with implications for theory and application in domains such as intergroup relations, conflict resolution, and political campaigning.Keywords: perspective taking, self-other overlap, similarity, prosocial behavior, empathy You know, there's a lot of talk in this country about the federal deficit. But I think we should talk more about our empathy deficit-the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes; to see the world through the eyes of those who are different from us-the child who's hungry, the steelworker who's been laid-off, the family who lost the entire life they built together when the storm came to town.-Barack Obama, 2006I feel your pain. -Bill Clinton, 1992 Although Barack Obama's victory over challenger Mitt Romney in the 2012 U.S. Presidential elections can be attributed to many causes, some pundits have cited the large "empathy gap" between the two candidates as one of the central reasons for a decisive Obama win (Ali, 2012;Birckhead, 2012). Consistent with this suggestion, polls from the contest showed that when voters were asked to consider which candidate was "more in touch with people like them" or "understood the economic problems of regular people," Obama won by a wide margin (Associated Press, 2012;Cillizza & Blake, 2012;Frommer, 2012). All savvy politicians try to persuade voters that they understand their circumstances, but none was more proficient at it than the 42nd President of the United States, Bill Clinton. Particularly when he was on the road campaigning, Clinton was a master at peering deeply in...

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Section: Limitations and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 81%

Perceived perspective taking: When others walk in our shoes.

Goldstein¹,

Vezich²,

Shapiro³

2014

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

127

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Another mechanism that deserves attention in future research on perspective taking in the courtroom is self-other merging, because past research has found this variable to be one of the routes by which perspective taking influences interpersonal perception. That is, perspective takers are hypothesized to see targets as more"self-like" (Davis, Conklin, Smith, & Luce, 1996;Galinsky, 2002;Galinsky, Ku, & Wang, 2005;Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000;Galinsky, Wang et al, 2008), but also to see themselves as more"like"the target Goldstein & Cialdini, 2007;Laurent & Myers, 2011). It seems likely that, along with empathy, self-other merging could work to influence perceptions of a defendant in a criminal setting, and this might be tested as a competing or complementary mediator in future work.…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, individuals instructed to take the perspective of or empathize with targets feel more empathy toward them (Batson, , ; Batson, Early, & Salvarani, ), show greater sensitivity to the their plights (Clore & Jeffrey, ), and are more likely to engage in prosocial helping behavior (Batson, Batson, & Griffitt, ; Batson, Polycarpou, et al., ; Cialdini, Brown, Lewis, Luce, & Neuberg, ; Coke, Batson, & McDavis, ; Davis, ; Dovidio, Allen, & Schroeder, ). In addition to increasing understanding, research shows that perspective taking enhances perceptions of connectedness and similarity between perceivers and targets (Cialdini et al., ; Goldstein & Cialdini, ; Laurent & Myers, ; Maner et al., ; Myers & Hodges, ; Neuberg et al., ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of perspective taking on courtroom decisions

Skorinko¹,

Laurent

Bountress

et al. 2014

J Applied Social Pyschol

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Four experiments examined the hypothesis that perspective taking with a defendant would lead to greater empathy, which would mediate lowered perceptions of culpability, with lowered culpability mediating a lower probability of guilt and recidivism. Experiments 1 and 2 established that perspective taking leads to a lower probability of guilty verdicts and recidivism, mediated by a decreased perception of the defendant's culpability. Experiment 2 showed that it does so by increasing empathy. Experiment 3 showed that perspective taking also heightens the perception of culpability through increased empathy for the victim. Experiment 4 showed that decreased culpability is in part driven by leniency, which is also a function of empathy. We tie our findings into other research investigating links between empathy and perspective taking.

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“…It is generally argued that taking the perspective of another shapes beliefs because individuals use the self as the basis for estimating the thoughts and feelings of others. This causes the self and the other to become psychologically intertwined, leading perceivers to view the other in more "self-like" ways (Davis, Conklin, Smith, & Luce, 1996;Galinsky, Ku, & Wang, 2005;Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000) and/or the self in more "other-like" ways (Galinsky et al, 2008;Goldstein & Cialdini, 2007;Laurent & Myers, 2011).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That is, using the self to generate an outgroup member's perspective increases perceived overlap between the self and the outgroup member and, thus, the positivity normally afforded to the self is extended to the target (Davis et al, 1996;Galinsky & Moskowitz, 2000;Laurent & Myers, 2011). For example, according to this theoretical stance, young people who take the perspective of an elderly man in an ambiguous context, such as sitting on a park bench, will use their own thoughts and feelings when trying to discern his.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%