Séminaire COSY : " What influences perspective taking ? A dynamic and multidimensional approach."

Ce séminaire (invitation) se déroulera dans l'auditoire Socrate -242 de 12h30 à 13h30 sur le campus de Louvain-La-Neuve (UCL) et s'inscrit dans le cadre du cycle de séminaires 2014-2015 organisé par le pôle COSY.

ABSTRACT : being able to take another person’s perspective is a critical social ability for the wellbeing and even survival in society. Our understanding of perspective taking is however limited by the assumptions that perspective-taking performance is stable over time and should be measured as a unitary construct. I will report evidence that perspective-taking performance actually fluctuates and is underpinned by at least two dimensions: (1) the relative priority given to the processing of the egocentric perspective over another person’s perspective and (2) the ability to handle conflicts between these perspectives. Accordingly, we observe that, from one situation or personality to another, some people are more or less efficient at handling perspectives conflicts and others are altercentric (i.e. prioritizing the other person’s perspective) or egocentric perspective-takers. This dynamic and multidimensional approach paves the way for a richer understanding of perspective taking.