Empathic Accuracy [Hardcover]

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 the thoughts and feelings of others actually are, introducing two innovative methods for objectively 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.
 

"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 judgment, alãt