LISTENER EMPATHY AS A FUNCTION OF IMAGINATIVE INVOLVEMENT, SOCIABILITY, AND THE IMAGERY CONTENT OF THE MESSAGE (SEX, DRAWINGS, BIMODAL CONSCIOUSNESS).
Item
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Title
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LISTENER EMPATHY AS A FUNCTION OF IMAGINATIVE INVOLVEMENT, SOCIABILITY, AND THE IMAGERY CONTENT OF THE MESSAGE (SEX, DRAWINGS, BIMODAL CONSCIOUSNESS).
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Identifier
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AAI8409416
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identifier
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8409416
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Creator
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SCHNEIER, SUSAN JENNY.
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Contributor
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Louis Gerstman
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Date
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1984
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Psychology, Clinical
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Abstract
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It was proposed that the imagery content of a message, in combination with the listener's imaginativeness and sociability, would predict emotional empathy.;Subjects listened to audiotapes of two scenarios: a person angry at a controlling mother, and a person sad for unhappy parents. Three versions of each had been taped by both a male and female actor: one containing low imagery words, one with high imagery words attributed to a fantasy, and another high imagery version attributed to an abstract color drawing of the feelings in the scenario.;A total of 421 subjects participated in 15 classes. Each class heard both scenarios: one by the male and one by the female. Imagery level was constant for each class but varied across classes; as did sex of actor portraying each emotion, and order of emotions.;Before the first tape and after hearing each tape, subjects completed a shortened Nowlis Mood Adjective Checklist (Nowlis and Greenberg, 1979), from which indices of Vicarious Empathy were derived; and a shortened version of the Empathic Concern Mood Index (Coke, Batson, & McDavis, 1978). After each tape, subjects also completed a Rapport questionnaire indicating how much they liked, felt similar to, felt involved with, and wanted to meet the person expressing feelings.;Finally, subjects completed the Social Closeness Scale (Tellegen, 1982) and two measures of imaginative involvement: the Creative Imagination Scale (Wilson and Barber, 1978) and the Absorption Scale (1982).;Results were as follows. For each emotion, the Empathic Concern and Rapport measures were intercorrelated but were independent of Vicarious Empathy. Imaginative Involvement was related to Empathic Rapport and Vicarious Empathy but not to Empathic Concern. Sociability was related only to Vicarious Empathy. High-imagery influenced Empathic Rapport and one measure of Empathic Concern, but had no effect on Vicarious Empathy. Furthermore, it enhanced Angry Rapport, but decreased or had no effect on Sad Rapport and Concern. Drawings added nothing to the effect of high imagery tapes on empathy, except to diminish Sad Vicarious Empathy. Women scored higher than men in four out of six empathy measures, extending findings with children to adults.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
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Program
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Psychology
