On Being Supportive: The Emotional Consequences of Listening to Another's Distress

Abstract

The present research explored supporters' feelings about giving emotional support to a person in distress. In a laboratory setting subjects talked with a confederate enacting a distressed role. The response of the confederate was manipulated, either `improvement' or `no improvement'. Responses of the subject were categorized as either supportive, i.e. primarily listening or providing encouragement, or `active', i.e. primarily problem solving. Subjects' affect, goal accomplishment and feelings of responsibility were assessed. Three factors were significantly related to an increase in the subject's anger and sadness: (1) when the confederate did not improve, (2) when the subject relied on `supportive' responses and (3) when subjects perceived that they had not accomplished their goal. In addition, the more responsible subjects felt for solving the problem the more negative affect they experienced after talking with a confederate who did not improve. Whether or not the confederate improved, subjects who relied on problem-solving felt that they had helped more then did subjects who relied on listening. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.