The current research examined how intimate partners’ affect is related, on a moment-to-moment basis, to their level of empathic accuracy during conflict interactions. To this end, we analyzed data from two laboratory-based studies (n = 155 and n = 172 couples) in which couples participated in a conflict interaction task, followed immediately by a video-review task during which they reported on their own feelings and thoughts and inferred those of their partner at different moments in the interaction. We found that the partners’ affective similarity—for both positive (Studies 1 and 2) and negative affect (Study 2)—was related to greater perceiver empathic accuracy for both the partner’s feelings (Studies 1 and 2) and the partner’s thoughts (Study 2). The data from Study 2 also revealed a complementary effect: lower levels of empathic accuracy for feelings at moments of affective dissimilarity between the partners (i.e., when a perceiver was feeling positive while his/her partner was feeling negative).
AmbadyN.GrayH. M. (2002). On being sad and mistaken: Mood effects on the accuracy of thin-slice judgments. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(4), 947–961. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.83.4.947
2.
Atzil-SlonimD.Bar-KalifaE.FisherH.LazarusG.Hasson-OhayonI.LutzW.RubelJ.RafaeliE. (2019). Therapists’ empathic accuracy toward their clients’ emotions. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 87(1), 33–45. https://doi.org/10.1037/ccp0000354
3.
BarghJ. A. (1994). The four horsemen of automaticity: Awareness, intention, efficiency, and control in social cognition. In WyerJr.R. S.SrullT. K. (Eds.), Handbook of social cognition (pp. 1–40). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
4.
BaumeisterR. F.BratslavskyE.FinkenauerC.VohsK. D. (2001). Bad is stronger than good. Review of General Psychology, 5(4), 323–370. https://doi.org/10.1037//1089 2680.5.4.323
BerscheidE.AmmazzalorsoH. (2001). Emotional experience in close relationships. In FletcherG. J.ClarkM. S. (Eds.), Blackwell handbook of social psychology: Interpersona processes (pp. 308–330). Blackwell Publishers Ltd.
7.
BodenhausenG. V.SheppardL. A.KramerG. P. (1994). Negative affect and social judgment: The differential impact of anger and sadness. European Journal of Social Psychology, 24(1), 45–62. https://doi.org/10.1002/ejsp.2420240104
8.
BolgerN.LaurenceauJ. P. (2013). Intensive longitudinal methods: An introduction to diary and experience sampling research. The Guildford Press.
9.
ClarkM. S.Von CulinK. R.Clark-PolnerE.LemayE.P.Jr. (2017). Accuracy and projection in perceptions of partners’ recent emotional experiences: Both minds matter. Emotion, 17(2), 196–207. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000173
10.
CrenshawA. O.LeoK.BaucomB. R. (2019). The effect of stress on empathic accuracy in romantic couples. Journal of Family Psychology, 33(3), 327–337. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000508
11.
DavisM. H. (1994). Empathy: A social psychological approach. Westview Press.
12.
DevlinH. C.ZakiJ.OngD. C.GruberJ. (2014). Not as good as you think? Trait positive emotion is associated with increased self-reported empathy but decreased empathic performance. PloS One, 9(10), Article e110470. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0110470
13.
FiedlerK. (2001). Affective influences on social information processing. In ForgasJ. P. (Ed.), Handbook of affect and social cognition (pp. 163–185). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
14.
FischerA. H.MansteadA. S. (2008). Social functions of emotion. In LewisM.Haviland-JonesJ. M.BarrettL. F. (Eds.), Handbook of emotions (pp. 456–468). The Guilford Press.
15.
ForgasJ. P.EastR. (2008). On being happy and gullible: Mood effects on skepticism and the detection of deception. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 44(5), 1362–1367. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jesp.2008.04.010
16.
ForgasJ. P.EichE. (2013). Affective influences on cognition: Mood congruence, mood dependence, and mood effects on processing strategies. In HealyA. F.ProctorR. W.WeinerI. B. (Eds.), Handbook of psychology: Experimental psychology (p. 61–82). Wiley.
17.
GaelickL.BodenhausenG. V.WyerR. S. (1985). Emotional communication in close relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 49(5), 1246–1265. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.49.5.1246
18.
HallgrenK. A. (2012). Computing inter-rater reliability for observational data: an overview and tutorial. Tutorials in Quantitative Methods for Psychology, 8(1), 23–34. https://doi.org/10.20982/tqmp.08.1.p023
19.
HinnekensC.BerlamontL.SelsL.IckesW.VerhofstadtL. (2021). The individual, relational and interactional correlates of empathic accuracy: A systematic review. [Unpublished Manuscript]. Department of Experimental Clinical and Health Psychology, Ghent University.
20.
HinnekensC.KimpeN. (2014). UFLCS review program [unpublished software program]. Ghent University.
21.
HinnekensC.LoeysT.De SchryverM.VerhofstadtL. L. (2018). The manageability of empathic (in) accuracy during couples’ conflict: Relationship-protection or self protection?Motivation and Emotion, 42(3), 403–418. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11031-018-9689-z
22.
HinnekensC.VanheeG.De SchryverM.IckesW.VerhofstadtL. L. (2016). Empathic accuracy and observed demand behavior in couples. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, 1370. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01370.
23.
HodgesS. D.LewisK. L.IckesW. (2015). The matter of other minds: Empathic accuracy and the factors that influence it. In ShaverP.MikulincerM. (Eds.), APA handbook of personality and social psychology: Vol 3. Interpersonal relations and group processes (pp. 319–348). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14344-012
24.
HoenigJ. M.HeiseyD. M. (2001). The abuse of power: the pervasive fallacy of power calculations for data analysis. The American Statistician, 55(1), 19–24. https://doi.org/10.1198/000313001300339897
25.
HowlandM.RafaeliE. (2010). Bringing everyday mind reading into everyday life: Assessing empathic accuracy with daily diary data. Journal of Personality, 78(5), 1437–1468. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2010.00657.x
IckesW.ChengW. (2011). How do thoughts differ from feelings? Putting the differences into words. Language and Cognitive Processes, 26(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690961003603046
28.
IckesW.SimpsonJ. A. (1997). Managing empathic accuracy in close relationships. In IckesW. (Ed.), Empathic accuracy (pp. 218–250). Guilford Press.
29.
IckesW.SimpsonJ. (2001). Motivational aspects of empathic accuracy. In FletcherG.J.O.ClarkM.S. (Eds.), Interpersonal processes: Blackwell handbook in social psychology (pp. 229–249). Blackwell.
30.
IckesW.StinsonL.BissonnetteV.GarciaS. (1990). Naturalistic social cognition: Empathic accuracy in mixed-sex dyads. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 59(4), 730–742. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.59.4.730
31.
KennyD. A.KashyD. A.CookW. L. (2006). Dyadic data analysis. The Guilford Press.
32.
KilpatrickS. D.BissonnetteV. L.RusbultC. E. (2002). Empathic accuracy and accommodative behavior among newly married couples. Personal Relationships, 9(4), 369–393. https://doi.org/10.1111/1475-6811.09402
33.
KourosC. D.PappL. M. (2019). Couples’ perceptions of each other's daily affect: Empathic accuracy, assumed similarity, and indirect accuracy. Family Process, 58(1), 179–196. https://doi.org/10.1111/famp.12344
KurdekL. A. (1994). Areas of conflict for gay, lesbian, and heterosexual couples: What couples argue about influences relationship satisfaction. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 56(4), 923–934. https://doi.org/10.2307/353603
36.
Levavi-FrancyN.LazarusG.RafaeliE. (2020). Relational events are more consequential when accompanied by emotional similarity. Cognition and Emotion, 34(5), 859–874. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2019.1691979
37.
LevensonR. W.RuefA. M. (1992). Empathy: A physiological substrate. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 63(2), 234–246. https://doi.org/10.1037/00223514.63.2.234
38.
LewisK. L.HodgesS. D.LaurentS. M.SrivastavaS.BiancarosaG. (2012). Reading between the minds: The use of stereotypes in empathic accuracy. Psychological Science, 23(9), 1040–1046. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797612439719
39.
Ma-KellamsC.LernerJ. (2016). Trust your gut or think carefully? Examining whether an intuitive, versus a systematic, mode of thought produces greater empathic accuracy. Journal of Personality and Social psychology, 111(5), 674–685. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000063
40.
MatovicD.ForgasJ. P. (2018). The answer is in the Question? Mood effects on processing verbal information and impression formation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology, 37(5), 578–590. https://doi.org/10.1177/0261927X18764544
41.
NickersonR. S.ButlerS. F.CarlinM. (2009). Empathy and knowledge projection. In DecetyJ.IckesW. (Eds.), The social neuroscience of empathy (pp. 43–56). The MIT Press. https://doi.org/10.7551/mitpress/9780262012973.003.0005
42.
PaulhusD. L.VazireS. (2007). The self-report method. In RobinsR. W.FraleyR. C.KruegerR. F. (Eds.), Handbook of research methods in personality psychology (pp. 224–239). The Guilford Press.
43.
SanfordK. (2007). Hard and soft emotion during conflict: Investigating married couples and other relationships. Personal Relationships, 14(1), 65–90. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475 6811.2006.00142.x
SenedH.BahorskiS. G.CallahanL.AltpeterM.RiniC. (2020). Overcoming barriers to physical activity in people with osteoarthritis: The role of empathic accuracy in couples’ planning discussions. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 27(2), 235–246. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-020-09856-x
46.
SenedH.YovelI.Bar-KalifaE.GadassiR.RafaeliE. (2017). Now you have my attention: Empathic accuracy pathways in couples and the role of conflict. Emotion, 17(1), 155–168. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000220
47.
SillarsA.RobertsL. J.LeonardK. E.DunT. (2000). Cognition during marital conflict: The relationship of thought and talk. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 17(4–5), 479–502. https://doi.org/10.1177/0265407500174002
48.
SimpsonJ. A.IckesW.BlackstoneT. (1995). When the head protects the heart: Empathic accuracy in dating relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 629–641. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.69.4.629
49.
SmithJ. L.IckesW.HallJ. A.HodgesS. (2011). Managing interpersonal sensitivity: Knowing when & when not to understand others. Nova Science.
50.
VerhofstadtL. L.BuysseA.IckesW.DavisM.DevoldreI. (2008). Support provision in marriage: The role of emotional similarity and empathic accuracy. Emotion, 8(6), 792–802. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013976
51.
VerhofstadtL.DevoldreI.BuysseA.StevensM.HinnekensC.IckesW.DavisM. (2016). The role of cognitive and affective empathy in spouses' support interactions: An observational study. PloS One, 11(2), Article e0149944. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0149944
52.
VerhofstadtL. L.LemmensG. M. D.VanheeG. (2020). Relationship distress: Empirical evidence for a relational need perspective. In OchsM.BorcsaM.SchweitzerJ. (Eds.), Systemic research in individual, couple, and family therapy and counseling (pp. 281–298). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030--36560-8_16
53.
WilhelmP.PerrezM. (2004). How is my partner feeling in different daily-life settings? Accuracy of spouses’ judgements about their partner’s feelings at work and at home. Social Indicators Research, 67(1/2), 183–246. https://doi.org/10.1023/B:SOCI.0000007339.48649.20
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
