You use the mental simulation as if you were other person. Say, you just angry to your friend and start to blame her because of what she did to you. Though you are angry to her, now you use your mental simulation to pretend as if you are in your friend situation. You turn back the film, before the situation happen and how you behave and start to understand why she behaves like that. It may reveal that your friend was over-reacting because she was worried of something or she was just responding to your own attitude toward her that was not so nice. Using the role play mental simulation you will understand other persons and situation better.

When you know the other person you are in role (i.e., your friend) so well, then you know what factors influence her behavior and you can simulate her behavior very accurate. You may know what is her reaction if you want to say something to her or ask her to do something for you.
If you do not know the other person well enough, you will use your basic knowledge and assume as if she will have the same reaction with you. Using the role play mental simulation, you will understand other person thinking and feeling toward you.

Thus, the role play mental simulation is useful to understand other person behavior. Your knowledge about what factors drive the behavior of other person will let your mental simulation produce more accurate results.

 

 

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