Perspective taking: definition and example
Perspective taking is deliberately imagining a situation from another person's point of view. It can soften your reaction and reduce self-centered assumptions, but research suggests it does not by itself make you more accurate about what they think; asking them does.
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As a habit
In Davis's widely used empathy questionnaire, perspective taking is one of four separate parts, alongside empathic concern, personal distress, and fantasy, and each related to other measures in its own way (Davis, 1983). So someone can be good at imagining another view without necessarily feeling their distress, and the reverse.
The accuracy surprise
Across 25 experiments, Eyal, Steffel, and Epley found that telling people to imagine another person's perspective did not make them more accurate about that person's thoughts or feelings, while directly asking the person in conversation did (Eyal, Steffel, and Epley, 2018). Imagining is useful for generating possibilities; it is a poor way to confirm them.
An example of using both
A teammate keeps skipping Friday drinks. You imagine she feels left out. Rather than staging a big welcome, you ask privately: "We'd love to have you Fridays. Is the timing or the bar setup a problem?" She says she picks up her son at 5:30. Your guess was kind and wrong; the question fixed it. Next quarter the team tries a lunch instead.
A simple routine
Before a hard conversation, write one sentence from the other person's side, starting "From where they sit, ..." Then underline the part you are guessing. In the conversation, ask about that part first.
Related terms
Cognitive empathy is understanding another's feelings, empathic accuracy is how right you turn out to be, and active listening is the skill that gets you the missing information.
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Research notes
- Mark H. Davis (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44(1), 113-126. Validates the Interpersonal Reactivity Index's four subscales (perspective taking, fantasy, empathic concern, personal distress) in 1,344 undergraduates, finding them related to other measures in distinct ways, for example personal distress with low self-esteem and poorer interpersonal functioning. Limits: self-report; student sample. doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.44.1.113
- Tal Eyal, Mary Steffel, Nicholas Epley (2018). Perspective mistaking: Accurately understanding the mind of another requires getting perspective, not taking perspective. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(4), 547-571. Across 25 experiments, telling people to imagine another person's perspective did not make them more accurate about that person's thoughts or feelings, while directly asking the person in conversation did. doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000115
Related
- No. 01EQ glossaryThe words behind emotional intelligence, defined.
- No. 02Cognitive empathyCognitive empathy is understanding what another person is feeling and why, without necessarily feeling it yourself.
- No. 03Empathic accuracyEmpathic accuracy is how correctly one person infers another's thoughts and feelings in a real interaction.
- No. 04Active listeningActive listening is a way of listening that shows you understood: you reflect back what you heard, ask questions that invite more, and hold off on advice.
- No. 05Empathy and Social AwarenessEmpathy is understanding another person’s thoughts and feelings, and sometimes sharing them, while knowing they are theirs; social awareness applies the same attention to groups and settings. Research suggests that asking beats imagining when you want to know what someone thinks, and that faces and texts are less readable than they feel. These guides turn that into specific habits, with clear notes on where the evidence is thin.
- No. 06Emotional Intelligence Test: Free EQ AssessmentExplore your emotional choices with a free 36-item assessment for adults. Get a profile summary and strongest area, then choose whether to unlock the full report.
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