Sometimes a partner walks through the door and says nothing, yet the other person immediately senses that something is wrong. Their shoulders may look tense, their movements quieter than usual, their facial expression different or their usual eye contact noticeably reduced. This ability can feel almost like mind-reading. Psychology, however, has a more grounded explanation: empathic accuracy.
Psychologist William Ickes defined empathic accuracy as the ability to correctly infer another person's thoughts and feelings. His research suggests that people are motivated to understand the psychological states of those around them, particularly people with whom they have meaningful relationships.
