Cognitions Associated With Attempts to Empathize: How Do We Imagine the Perspective of Another?

TLDR

Perspective taking is theoretically important, yet few studies have examined the cognitions involved in imagining another's viewpoint. The study aimed to examine whether perspective taking raises self‑related thoughts by conducting two experiments. Experiment 1 used a thought‑listing method to capture observer cognitions, while Experiment 2 employed a less reactive measure. Both imagine‑self and imagine‑target instructions increased self‑related thoughts compared to control, with the imagine‑self condition yielding more self‑thoughts and fewer target thoughts; the control condition prompted distancing thoughts, and un‑instructed observers reported cognitions similar to the imagine‑target group.

Abstract

Although the theoretical importance of perspective taking has long been recognized, surprisingly little work has documented the cognitions associated with attempts to imagine another's point of view. To explore this issue and to determine whether perspective taking increases the likelihood of self-related thoughts, two experiments were carried out. In the first, a thought-listing procedure was used to assess observer cognitions; in the second, a less reactive measure was used. Instructions to imagine the self in the target's position and instructions simply to imagine the target's perspective produced increased levels of self-related cognition relative to a traditional control condition; the imagine-self condition also produced more self-thoughts and fewer target thoughts than did the imagine-target condition. The control condition produced thoughts suggesting that the observers were distancing themselves from the target. Observers receiving no instructions at all reported cognitions that closely resembled those of observers who received imagine-target instructions.