「人際敏感度」指正確察覺與解釋他人展現訊息與行為代表意義的正確性。過去研究發現，女性的人際敏感度優於男性，可採權力觀點或社會角色理論解釋。權力觀點認為女性缺乏權力，故需展現良好的人際敏感度保障自己權益。社會角色理論認為女性擔任，或被期待擔任照顧者，因此培養出良好的人際敏感度。本研究比較此二理論對人際敏感度的解釋，透過權力差異的操弄與不同的議題（經濟提供者或照顧者）討論，探討兩人互動時的人際敏感度。結果符合權力觀點的解釋，而社會角色未直接影響人際敏感度。不過，我們發現權力差異對人際敏感度的效果，會受到社會角色是否符合生理性別期待的作業類型影響。本文深入檢驗並探討權力觀點與社會角色理論對人際敏感度的解釋。

Interpersonal sensitivity refers to one's ability to accurately detect and decode cues communicated by others. Past research showed that women enjoy superior interpersonal sensitivity over men; different explanations were offered in theories from a power perspective and social role theory. Theories from the power perspective suggest that women rely on their interpersonal sensitivity for protection, due to their relative lack of power in the society. Social role theory suggests that women are more likely to be (or are expected to be) caretakers, which require their attention to others. As a result, women develop superior interpersonal sensitivity over men. Based in Snodgrass's interaction paradigm, we designed an experimental study to test explanations offered by these theories. In the experiment, two individuals were told to work on a task which either required them to be providers (focusing on earning money) or caretakers (focusing on taking care of others). Before interaction, they were randomly assigned to be the leader or the subordinate, respectively. The results showed that interpersonal sensitivity in interaction can be best accounted for by theories from the power perspective. Subordinates were more sensitive to how leaders felt about them (the subordinates), whereas leaders were more sensitive to how subordinates felt about themselves. In addition, we found three-way interactions of participant sex, power, and social role, suggesting that the effects of power manipulation were constrained by the gender implications of the tasks. Motivation was offered to account for the differential effects of power manipulation.