The extent to which partners in a relationship are able to accurately infer each other's private thoughts and feelings during a discussion is known as empathic accuracy. Previous research on empathic accuracy has revealed a major paradox: Although most studies find that greater empathic understanding tends to be good for relationships, some studies have found that greater empathic accuracy can harm relationships in certain situations. To reconcile these contrasting findings, researchers have proposed that empathic accuracy should be good for relationships when routine and non-threatening issues are being discussed by partners, but it should be bad for relationships when relationship-threatening issues are discussed. Understanding when empathic accuracy is good or bad for relationships is important for advancing knowledge about basic social interaction processes in close relationships. This project develops and tests a theory that specifies when higher versus lower levels of empathic accuracy are likely to occur in interactions. The theory will be tested in four studies involving large samples of long-term dating couples and married couples. ?> ¢??© ???Ã?¢à ?©Ã>?_Ã>/ /¢ ¢???/% ?©???/ ?â¥???Â¥??à -Â/?à ¢/??>À- Àâ¥??â />? ?Ã/?Â¥??>¢ Â¥? -%?¢?>À Â/?à - /??%â?Ã>Â¥ />??ÃÂ¥` />? ??>Â??_?Â¥` >?> ??Â¥?_/% ?/?À/?>?>À />? >ÃÀ?Â¥?/Â¥??> />? _/??Â¥/% ©/?_?>` />? ??¢????
