The story so far: We have explored the strucutre of the self-concept and explored ways in which people use the self-concept to make sense of others. (false consensus, projection, simulation). We have begun to look at variants of "getting into the other mind" -- empathy, perspective-taking, and sympathy. Now we examine these possible connections between self and other in the context of real relationships.

In this session we will tackle the following related questions: What really goes on when people "empathize" with another person? Does it resemble a self-other merging? Is such a merging a characteristic of intimate relationships? And are people who are in intimate relationships accurate when they empathize with their partner?

What underlies empathy: The hypothesis of self-other merging