Reading thoughts and feelings in other people: Empathic accuracy across adulthood

Abstract

Empathy is a multifaceted trait. One facet is cognitive empathy, the ability to accurately infer others' thoughts and feelings (also referred to as empathic accuracy). It is associated with markers of positive adjustment, such as satisfaction with social relationships, in earlier phases of the lifespan. In previous research, empathic accuracy was less pronounced in older than in younger adults. We review evidence for such age differences and argue for the importance of ecological validity in age-comparative research. Furthermore, we discuss factors that may contribute to empathic accuracy, such as cognitive abilities or (assumed) similarity with a social partner, and discuss their potentially differential role in different age groups. We especially highlight the role of motivation (e.g., the age-relevance of a task). Assuming that older adults sometimes are less empathically accurate, there is little evidence that this particularly compromises older adults' social lives and overall adjustment. Moreover, a lack of longitudinal research raises the question whether age differences point to an age-related trajectory or to cohort differences. Thus, promising avenues for future research include the use of cohort-sequential, ecologically valid, and motivating paradigms to understand in which situations empathic failures impair older adults in their daily lives.

Keywords: Age differences; Ecological validity; Empathic accuracy; Empathy; Motivation.