Emotional and Cognitive Responses in Role Playing

Abstract

The present study investigated the contention that different role-playing interventions predispose the players to respond in a predominantly cognitive or emotional manner. Twentyseven subjects were randomly assigned to three role-playing conditions as follows: (a) a spontaneous simulation where the players portray the role freely as themselves; (b) a mimeticpretend simulation where the players portray the role under an assumed identity; and (c) a mimetic-replication simulation where the players imitate a specific, and a familiar model. All the subjects role played a situation that involved a discussion with a person in distress. Content analyses of the subjects' responses confirmed the prediction. Subjects in the mimeticpretend simulation produced more cognitive responses than
those in the spontaneous simulation. The latter produced more emotional responses than subjects in the other two simulation conditions.