I do not know you and I am keeping it that way: Attachment avoidance and empathic accuracy in the perception of strangers

O. R. Izhaki-Costi, Yaacov Schul*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

Two studies examined the association between attachment avoidance and empathic accuracy when perceiving strangers. In Study 1, participants with high attachment avoidance revealed lower accuracy in identifying the thoughts and feelings of their interaction partner compared with participants with low attachment avoidance. High-avoidance participants also tended to mentally distance themselves from the other and thought less often about him or her. Study 2 replicated the pattern of lower empathic accuracy for high-attachment-avoidance participants, this time, when respondents did not actually interact with the target of perception. We discuss reasons for why people with high attachment avoidance might show impaired empathic accuracy while interacting with strangers. We also consider more general influences of attachment avoidance on perception processes and, consequently, on social success.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)321-340
Number of pages20
JournalPersonal Relationships
Volume18
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2011

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