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Article published In:
Pragmatics and Society
Vol. 12:3 (2021) ► pp.373–389

Face-oriented acts of empathy in psychotherapy

| Qufu Normal University
Using Conversation Analytic (CA) methods, the present study attempts to analyze the various functions of face-based therapist empathy, and how they are sequentially realized in different psychotherapeutic settings. Four types of face-based therapeutic functions are discussed; more specifically, it is illustrated how therapist empathy may serve to maintain, enhance, threaten or even save the client’s face. The findings gained could contribute to a better understanding of the face-based therapeutic functions of empathy; also, the study may inspire researchers to further investigate other functions of therapist empathy in psychotherapy.
Keywords: empathy, facework, psychotherapy, therapist-client interaction, conversation analysis
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.What is empathy?
  • 3.Conversation analysis, psychotherapy, face in interaction
  • 4.Data
  • 5.Face-related acts of empathy
    • 5.1Face-enhancing acts of empathy
    • 5.2Face-maintaining acts of empathy
    • 5.3Face-threatening acts of empathy
    • 5.4Face-saving acts of empathy
  • 6.Overall distribution of face-related acts of empathy
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
Published online: 5 July 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ps.18028.yij
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