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This study addressed 3 questions regarding empathic accuracy in a clinically relevant setting. First, does the empathic accuracy of a perceiver improve with increased exposure to a target individual? Second, can empathic accuracy be enhanced by providing the perceiver with feedback about the target's actual thoughts and feelings? Third, are there stable individual differences in empathic accuracy that generalize across different targets? The results indicated that although absolute performance levels varied from 1 target to another, empathic accuracy generally improved with increased exposure to the target. In addition, feedback concerning the target's actual thoughts and feelings accelerated the rate at which the perceivers' empathic accuracy improved. Finally, cross-target consistency in responding (a = .86) revealed stable individual differences in the perceivers' empathic ability. Implications of these findings for clinical training and practice are discussed. Can I see another's woe, And not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, And not seek for kind relief?-William Blake Empathy has long been regarded as an important phenomenon by poets, playwrights, and philosophers. Like their counterparts in the literary world, psychologists from various research disciplines have focused attention on the role of empathy in mediating culturally valued social behaviors (e.g.

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Male and female strangers' shyness and physical attractiveness strongly affected their own and their partners' behavior during initial, unstructured interactions. First, dyad-level measures of behavioral involvement and perceived interaction quality were independently predicted by the men's shyness and the women's physical attractiveness. Second, shy men exerted avoidant control over mutual gazing by denying their female partners (but not themselves) opportunities to initiate and terminate mutual gazes. Third, as physical attractiveness of the men increased, conversations included fewer references to 3rd-party individuals, with the women appearing to be primarily responsible for setting the "exclusive" tone of these conversations. Fourth, as physical attractiveness of the women increased, the men reported an increasing percentage of metaperspective thoughts and feelings that reflected the symbolic adoption of their female partners' perspective.First impressions matter. In some instances (e.g., during job interviews and blind dates), the images created during initial encounters govern one's access to significant social and material rewards as well as to subsequent interactions. Even when continued encounters are ensured (e.g., when first meeting a new neighbor or co-worker), these same images color one's subsequent perceptions of the other person's friendliness, desirability, and competence. The enduring impact of first impressions seems exaggerated relative to the limited amount of information available in any single encounter.Certain personal characteristics influence initial impressions more than others. Characteristics that are readily observable should have the greatest initial impact. For example, race and gender are conspicuous features that have been shown to exert considerable influence on interpersonal behavior and perceptions (e.g., Ickes, 1984;Ickes & Barnes, 1977;Ickes, Schermer, & Steeno, 1979). In this study, we examined the impact of two other dispositional variables that are salient early in an interaction: physical attractiveness and shyness.Both of these characteristics are readily discerned. Evidence of their observability was reported by Funder and Dobroth Portions of these results were presented at the 1990 International Conference on Interaction and Close Relationships at Nags Head, North Carolina, and at the 1990 meeting of the Midwestern Psychological Association, Chicago.

In an attempt to comprehend the perceptions held about racially similar and dissimilar couples, four issues were examined in this study. First, differences in perceptions based on the couple's racial composition were investigated. It was hypothesized that perceptions about the couple, its members, and its relationship quality would be more positive for same-race dyads than mixed-race couples. Second, we examined the impact of intimacy level on perceptions reported about these dyads. Pairs who were friends were predicted to receive more positive perceptions than the engaged couples. Third, we hypothesized that racially dissimilar couples who were engaged would be perceived more negatively than the racially similar friend and engaged dyads and the racially dissimilar friend pairs. Lastly, past studies have indicated perceiver sex and race differences in perceptions of interracial couples. Given the inconsistencies in the literature, we looked at the possible sex- and race-of-the-perceiver effects on perceptions of these dyads. Results supported the first and second hypotheses, and there was partial evidence for the last. Understanding the perceptions of same-race and mixed-race couples thus requires consideration of its racial composition, the relationship's level of intimacy, and the perceiver's sex.