Role of self-awareness and the self-other distinction in perspective taking

Perspective taking (PT) refers to the ability to adopt the point of view of others. This construct is frequently mentioned in research on theory of mind or empathy, but few studies have examined its components. Among these, the self-other distinction (SOD) can be defined as the ability to distinguish one's own representations from those of others. Self-consciousness (SC) refers to attention to itself and its psychic states by an inner intuition. After a presentation of these two research fields, our review will focus on showing how the development of these two components contributes to the quality of PT and more generally to empathic responses. An empirical testing of this theoretical modeling would enable to verify its validity, in order to subsequently develop therapeutic techniques targeting the processes underlying the empathic deficits.

Automated summary

Perspective taking is the ability to adopt others' viewpoints, with self-other distinction and self-consciousness being key components influencing its quality. Empirical testing of this theoretical modeling could help develop therapeutic techniques for empathic deficits.