Perspective taking: Imagining how another feels versus imagining how you would feel

Although often confused, imagining how another feels; and imagining how you would feel are two distinct forms of perspective taking with different emotional consequences. The former evokes empathy,. the latter; both empathy and distress. To test this claim, undergraduates listened to a (bogus) Pilot radio interview with a young woman in serious need. One third were instructed to remain objective whit listening one third, to imagine how the young woman felt; and one third, to imagine how they would feel in her situation. The two imagine perspectives produced the Predicted distinct pattern of emotions, suggesting different motivational consequences: Imagining how the other feels produced empathy, which has been found to evoke altruistic motivation; imagining how you would feel produced empathy, but it also Produced personal distress, which has been found to evoke egoistic motivation.