imagine-other perspective (IOPT)

imagine-other perspective-taking (IOPT).

Empathy Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

By Janice Wood

"One approach observes and infers how someone feels. This is imagine-other perspective-taking (IOPT). The other approach is for helpers to put themselves into someone else’s situation, the ubiquitous “walk a mile in their shoes” scenario. This is imagine-self perspective-taking (ISPT)."

Don't walk in her shoes! Different forms of perspective taking affect stress physiology

Anneke E.K.Buffone+

"Helping behavior predicts both positive and negative outcomes for helpers' health and well-being. One reason for this may be that helpers can engage in different kinds of perspective taking, which in turn have different effects on well-being. Imaging oneself in a suffering other's place, or imagine-self perspective taking (ISPT), has been shown to lead to greater levels of personal distress than merely thinking about the other's feelings, or imagine-other perspective taking (IOPT). "