Perspective taking, the main cognitive component of empathy, is considered within the psychological literature to be a significant part of human interaction. Despite extensive investigation into the outcomes of this construct, the process by which people take another's psychological point of view has received comparatively little attention. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate in three studies what the individual does when attempting to take the perspective of another person. The first study investigated the particular strategies which individuals use when engaging in perspective-taking behaviours. Dominant themes to emerge from this qualitative assessment of the perspective-taking process were the use of self- (e.g., switching places) and other-information (e.g., targets personal characteristics), of which the former appears to play the central role. Further elements of the perspective-taking process were also identified with the self-information theme. Of these, having experienced a situation similar to that of a target (similar past experience) was found to be a particularly strong aspect of the perspective-taking process and subsequently informed the rationale for the remaining two studies. In view of the findings from Study 1, the second study tested whether past experiences made it easier for participants to take the perspective of another person in a new, but similar situation and the extent to which other aspects, such as switching places with the target, made the perspective-taking process less effortful. Results revealed that similar past experience was the strongest predictor of the ease of the perspective-taking task. Moreover, the extent to which similar past experience increased ease of the perspective-taking process was moderated by the extent to which the participant reflected on that past experience. The final study in this thesis picked up the notion of reflection and examined whether increasing the extent to which an individual engages in self-reflection leads to a concomitant increase in the tendency to take another perspective and the ease with which this can be accomplished. After completion of an intervention program which had a strong focus on self-reflection and understanding of self, there was a noticeable trend for participants to improve on their capacity for self-reflection. The findings also revealed that individuals with a tendency to self-reflect in an insightful and non-ruminative manner demonstrated a similarly high level of general perspective-taking propensity and ease of perspective taking. The studies support the vital role of reflection on similar past experience to that of a target when engaging in perspective taking. This research underscores the importance of examining perspective taking as a process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:ADTP/284096 |
| Date | January 2009 |
| Creators | Gerace, Adam |
| Source Sets | Australiasian Digital Theses Program |
| Language | EN-AUS |
| Detected Language | English |
| Rights | Copyright Adam Gerace 2009 |
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