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The Relationship Between Perspective‐Taking and Nonaggressive Responding in the Face of an Attack
Author(s) -
Richardson Deborah R.,
Green Laura R.,
Lago Tania
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of personality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.082
H-Index - 144
eISSN - 1467-6494
pISSN - 0022-3506
DOI - 10.1111/1467-6494.00011
Subject(s) - psychology , aggression , perspective (graphical) , facilitator , context (archaeology) , prosocial behavior , interpersonal communication , facilitation , provocation test , perspective taking , interpersonal relationship , social psychology , developmental psychology , empathy , medicine , paleontology , alternative medicine , pathology , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science , biology
Perspective‐taking functions as an inhibitor of interpersonal aggression and as a facilitator of prosocial behavior. The present study examined the extent to which perspective‐taking enhances nonaggressive responses in a situation in which people typically make aggressive responses. It also examined the relationship between perspective‐taking and response to interpersonal context. Subjects participated in a reaction‐time task in which they could respond either aggressively or nonaggressively in two different interpersonal contexts (i.e., the target either increased or decreased provocation during the interaction). As predicted, perspective‐taking was related to the inhibition of aggressive responding and the facilitation of nonaggressive responding. In general, perspective‐taking was associated with less aggression, including relatively more positive and fewer negative responses. This was especially the case in the interpersonal context in which the target had increased provocation across the trials of the task.