EMPATHIC ACCURACY IN A CLINICALLY RELEVANT SETTING

This study addressed 3 questions regarding empathic accuracy in a clin ically relevant setting. First, does the empathic accuracy of a percei ver improve with increased exposure to a target individual? Second, ca n empathic accuracy be enhanced by providing the perceiver with feedba ck about the target's actual thoughts and feelings? Third, are there s table individual differences in empathic accuracy that generalize acro ss different targets? The results indicated that although absolute per formance levels varied from 1 target to another, empathic accuracy gen erally improved with increased exposure to the target. In addition, fe edback concerning the target's actual thoughts and feelings accelerate d the rate at which the perceivers' empathic accuracy improved. Finall y, cross-target consistency in responding (alpha = .86) revealed stabl e individual differences in the perceivers' empathic ability. Implicat ions of these findings for clinical training and practice are discusse d.