Everyday Mind Reading

Exploring and improving "empathic accuracy," our ability to guess the thoughts and feelings of other people.

Dr. William Ickes is Distinguished Professor of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington. For the past 20 years he has been studying empathic accuracy ("everyday mind reading"). See full bio

January 28, 2009

Where Is Women's Intuition?

When my colleagues and I began doing research on empathic accuracy (everyday mind reading) about 20 years ago, we expected to find that women would be more accurate than men at inferring the specific content of other people's thoughts and feelings. This expectation was based on the cultural stereotype of "women's intuition." Read More

October 2, 2008

The Man Who Measured Mind Reading

I must have been about 11 or 12 years old when I first heard about the field of psychology. Living in a small Iowa town just west of Des Moines, I was an expert on comic books and Mad Magazine in those days and not much else. Read More

Books by Dr. William Ickes

Empathic Accuracy

Everyday Mind Reading: Understanding What Other People Think and Feel

The Social Neuroscience of Empathy

Strangers in a Strange Lab: How Personality Shapes Our Initial Encounters with Others

Relationships Basics

Love is the most profound emotion known to human beings. For most people, romantic relationships are the most meaningful element in their lives. But the ability to have a healthy, loving relationship is not innate. Almost all of us have experienced a failed relationship, and most of us have to work consciously to master the skills necessary to make them flourish.

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