William Ickes, Ph.D.
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William Ickes is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Texas at Arlington. He is a personality and social psychologist who is known primarily for his research on unstructured dyadic interaction. His first major line of research within this tradition concerns the phenomenon of empathic accuracy ("everyday mind reading"). This research is summarized in his 2003 book Everyday Mind Reading: Understanding What Other People Think and Feel. His second major line of research concerns the influence of personal traits and characteristics on people's initial interactions with each other. This research is summarized in his 2009 book Strangers in a Strange Lab: How Personality Shapes Our Initial Encounters with Others. William Ickes received his Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology in 1973 at the University of Texas at Austin, where he was trained in the social psychology program. His primary research advisor was Robert Wicklund, although Elliot Aronson was also an important professional mentor during this time. Ickes's first academic job was at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he initiated the research on unstructured dyadic interaction that he would continue to do throughout his academic career. After leaving Wisconsin, he taught briefly at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (1979–1982). He returned to Texas in 1982 to begin his employment at the University of Texas at Arlington, where he has been for over 30 years. He was a Visiting Professor at the University of Washington-Seattle in 1992; a Visiting Erskine Fellow at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1999; and an International Francqui Chair at Ghent University and the Catholic University of Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, in 2005.
- Ph.D. Psychology, University of Texas at Austin, 1973
- B.S. Psychology, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, 1969
Link to Research Profile
Office: 510 Life Sciences Bldg ickes@uta.edu
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Recent Submissions
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When accuracy hurts: Reactions of anxious–ambivalent dating partners to a relationship-threatening situation.
(American Psychological AssociationDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 1999-05)Why are individuals who are anxious and uncertain about their partner’s love and commitment especially likely to have turbulent and unstable relationships? Guided by three theoretical perspectives—Ickes and Simpson’s (1997) ... -
When Accuracy Hurts, and When It Helps: A Test of the Empathic Accuracy Model in Marital Interactions.
(American Psychological AssociationDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 2003-11)This study tested predictions from Ickes and Simpson’s (1997, 2001) empathic accuracy model. Married couples were videotaped as they tried to resolve a problem in their marriage. Both spouses then viewed a videotape of the ... -
Support provision in marriage: The role of emotional linkage and empathic accuracy.
(American Psychological AssociationDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 2008-12)The goal of this investigation was to identify micro-level processes in the support provider that may foster or inhibit the provision of spousal support. Specifically, we focused on how (1) emotional linkage between the ... -
Social support in couples: An examination of gender differences using self-report and observational methods.
(Springer VerlagDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 2007-06-20)Two studies were conducted to examine gender differences in spousal support. Study 1 was a survey study involving 458 married couples, and Study 2 was an observational study involving 32 married couples. Self-reports were ... -
How do thoughts differ from feelings? Putting the differences into words
(Taylor & FrancisDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 2010-04-13) -
Empathic accuracy of intimate partners in violent versus nonviolent relationships.
(Wiley-BlackwellDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 2007-09)This study compared the empathic accuracy of men and women who had perpetrated physical intimate partner violence with that of partners in nonviolent but distressed and nonviolent and nondistressed relationships. Examined ... -
Attachment and the management of empathic accuracy in relationship threatening situations
(SAGE PublicationsDepartment of Psychology, The University of Texas at Arlington, 2011-02)The current studies tested how attachment orientations are related to empathic accuracy (i.e., the accuracy with which one infers a partner's private thoughts and feelings) during attachment-relevant discussions. In Study ...