Document Type
Article
Version
Author's Final Manuscript
Publication Title
Journal of Marriage and Family
Publication Date
12-2014
Abstract
This study examined links between intimate partner aggression and empathic accuracy – how accurately partners can read one another’s emotions – during highly affective moments from couples’ (N = 109) video recall of laboratory-based discussions of upsetting events. Less empathic accuracy between partners was generally related to higher levels of aggression by both partners. More specific patterns emerged based on the type of aggression and emotion being expressed. Women’s poorer ability to read their partners’ vulnerable and positive emotions was linked to both men’s and women’s greater physical and psychological aggression. Moreover, women’s inaccuracy in reading their partner’s hostility was linked to women’s greater psychological aggression towards the men. Men’s inaccuracy in reading their partner’s hostility was linked to women’s (not men’s) greater physical and psychological aggression. Findings suggest important nuances in the links between empathic inaccuracy and aggression, and implications for prevention and treatment of partner aggression are discussed.
Publisher's Statement
This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: FULL CITE, which has been published in final form at [Link to final article using the DOI]. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.
Citation
Cohen, Shiri; Schulz, Marc S.; Liu, Sabrina R.; Halassa, Muhannad; and Waldinger, Robert J., "Empathic accuracy and aggression in couples: Individual and dyadic links" (2014). Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship. 37.
https://repository.brynmawr.edu/psych_pubs/37