Seeing Their Side Versus Feeling Their Pain: Differential Consequences of Perspective-Taking and Empathy at Work

Perspective taking and empathic concern (empathy) have each been proposed as constructive approaches to social relationships. However, their potential distinctions, limitations, and consequences in task contexts are not well understood. We meta-analytically examined 304 independent samples to uncover unique effects of perspective taking and empathic concern on important work-related outcomes. We develop and test a contingency model of those effects, based on three facets of psychological interdependence: outcome, hierarchical (or power asymmetry), and social category (or in-group/out-group distinctions). Results revealed perspective taking and empathic concern to have positive impacts on being supportive of others, but the effects of empathic concern were stronger. In contrast, perspective taking was an asset and empathy was a liability for capturing value in strategic interactions (e.g., negotiations). Effects of perspective taking and empathic concern were differentially contingent on psychological interdependence. The impact of perspective taking, but not of empathic concern, was attenuated or reversed under negative outcome interdependence; perspective-taking leads to advantage taking in competitive contexts. Perspective taking was particularly beneficial when the actor had high power, but empathic concern’s benefits were independent of hierarchy. Finally, social dissimilarity had no detectable impact on the effects of perspective taking or empathic concern, contrary to our theorizing. Overall results suggest two key conclusions. First, perspective taking and empathic concern have powerful effects on work-related outcomes. Second, each construct has its own distinctive and predictable impacts. We conclude by offering practical suggestions for improving workplace interactions through perspective taking and empathic concern.

• Publication year

  2018

• Venue

  Journal of Applied Psychology

• Publication date

  2018-04-16

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Business, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1037/apl0000307PMID 29658736
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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