The Cambridge Autism Research Center Emapthy Test

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Campin_Cat
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07 Feb 2015, 12:31 pm

65

As someone else said, being an Aspie is so much more than not being able to be sociable. I've got the social thing down, pretty good----I think it's because I was raised by such social people----but, am a total mess, in other ways.



AspieUtah
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07 Feb 2015, 12:40 pm

Campin_Cat wrote:
65

As someone else said, being an Aspie is so much more than not being able to be sociable. I've got the social thing down, pretty good----I think it's because I was raised by such social people----but, am a total mess, in other ways.

Very true. When I completed the EQ test last year, I was convinced that my autodidactic social and empathy skills would become evident in the test results. Nope. I scored 11. But, even my AQ score surprised me. Yeah, I agree that not every individual with an ASD will exhibit all the same characteristics. In fact, recent research shows that many such individuals care more than most NTs. Unfortunately for me, I guess I don't. Wish I could. I tend to intellectualize my empathy.


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dianthus
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07 Feb 2015, 1:04 pm

I scored a 36, but that may be an overestimate because the questions don't really get down to enough specifics.

I tend to have more cognitive empathy, than emotional empathy. But I really feel for people who are being mistreated or abused, or who are physically hurt. Just seeing someone get a papercut makes me cringe.



Rocket123
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07 Feb 2015, 1:07 pm

I took the test twice. First time 8. Second time 19.

I find many of these questions difficult to answer:

- Those that include, “People often tell me…”. As what happens if you don’t have a lot of social contact?
- “I can tell if someone is masking their true emotion” – How do you know? By the way, I rarely try to guess someone else's emotion. It seems a bit presumptous.
- “I am good at predicting what someone will do.” – How do you test this? Again, I rarely try to guess what someone else would do.
- “It doesn't bother me too much if I am late meeting a friend.” – I hate being late for anything. Interestingly, I am less bothered about being late for meeting a friend, than almost any other appointment.
- “Seeing people cry doesn't really upset me.” – When I notice people tearing, my first thought is usually confusion (i.e. it’s fake).
- “I can easily work out what another person might want to talk about.” – I don’t understand this. Usually when I am with someone else, the other person dominates the conversation. It’s quite easy to know what they want to talk about. As that is what they are saying.



Rocket123
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07 Feb 2015, 1:12 pm

dianthus wrote:
Just seeing someone get a papercut makes me cringe.

I cringe too, when I see others get hurt (say, when watching someone in a football game get squished or watching someone drop a heavy object on their foot).

I don't sense that other person's emotional response. Instead, I sense how I would respond if that happened to me. So, if someone did drop a heavy object on their foot, I would immediately say/think, "ouch".

I have no idea if my response is unique or common. It simply is.



Campin_Cat
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07 Feb 2015, 2:00 pm

AspieUtah wrote:
I tend to intellectualize my empathy.


I'm curious as to what that means.....

Does that mean that when you see someone feeling "whatever", that you think to yourself: "They're feeling that way because of this, and this, and this.....", and then you don't feel for them, or something? The reason I'm asking is because I would like to feel LESS for people, sometimes.....



traven
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07 Feb 2015, 2:04 pm

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Rocket123 wrote:
I find many of these questions difficult to answer:

- Those that include, “People often tell me…”. As what happens if you don’t have a lot of social contact?
- “I can tell if someone is masking their true emotion” – How do you know? By the way, I rarely try to guess someone else's emotion. It seems a bit presumptous.
- “I am good at predicting what someone will do.” – How do you test this? Again, I rarely try to guess what someone else would do.
- “It doesn't bother me too much if I am late meeting a friend.” – I hate being late for anything. Interestingly, I am less bothered about being late for meeting a friend, than almost any other appointment.
- “Seeing people cry doesn't really upset me.” – When I notice people tearing, my first thought is usually confusion (i.e. it’s fake).
- “I can easily work out what another person might want to talk about.” – I don’t understand this. Usually when I am with someone else, the other person dominates the conversation. It’s quite easy to know what they want to talk about. As that is what they are saying.


I agree, and on more, I find it also a strange mix of empathy and conformity
for example; "I don't consciously work out the rules of social situations",
the more I understand it, the less it appeals to me > I don't want to do that



dianthus
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07 Feb 2015, 2:05 pm

I'm not sure how to explain this, but I think people I've had so many experiences where other people misinterpret me and misinterpret what I'm feeling and what I want, I am less likely to try to empathize with others because I don't want to put anyone else through that same kind of discomfort.

As one example...so many times throughout my life I really just wanted to be left alone because I felt tired or overwhelmed, or was trying to concentrate on something, or just wanted to be quiet and stop talking, or felt a migraine coming on, or just any reason, whatever. It doesn't even matter what the reason is, what matters is that is what I want and need. I would try to disengage the situation politely, and if I was pressured I might have even said directly, PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE. But some annoying busybody would misinterpret that as me needing company or reassurance or a hug, which would be really invasive.

So because of things like that, I began to infer that other people might say they want to be left alone, or go off by themselves or whatever, when they don't really want to be left alone. How utterly mind boggling is that? How in the world are you supposed to know the difference?! I can't tell, and so I have misinterpreted things that way myself a few times, with absolutely horrifying results. So now I firmly believe that when people say or demonstrate that they want to be left alone, by all means, leave them alone.

And if I am not sure what a person wants, I think it is better to err on the side of caution and just leave them alone anyway, than to risk upsetting them worse.



AspieUtah
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07 Feb 2015, 2:13 pm

Campin_Cat wrote:
AspieUtah wrote:
I tend to intellectualize my empathy.

I'm curious as to what that means.....

Does that mean that when you see someone feeling "whatever", that you think to yourself: "They're feeling that way because of this, and this, and this.....", and then you don't feel for them, or something? The reason I'm asking is because I would like to feel LESS for people, sometimes.....

I want to empathize for others, but, when it comes to actually saying something or doing something, I act in ways that are rational, not emotional. I suggest that others' bad experiences might actually have certain benefits. Apparently not what they want to hear at the moment. It is what I have done with my own bad experiences throughout my life. I guess I figure that it works for me (and calms me from believing that the world has collapsed), and try to encourage others to think similarly. They don't understand my intent and seem to believe that I agree with (or enjoy) their experiences.


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Diagnosed in 2015 with ASD Level 1 by the University of Utah Health Care Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinic using the ADOS-2 Module 4 assessment instrument [11/30] -- Screened in 2014 with ASD by using the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre AQ (Adult) [43/50]; EQ-60 for adults [11/80]; FQ [43/135]; SQ (Adult) [130/150] self-reported screening inventories -- Assessed since 1978 with an estimated IQ [≈145] by several clinicians -- Contact on WrongPlanet.net by private message (PM)


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07 Feb 2015, 3:19 pm

12

I have very little social interaction these days so the social questions were a bit meaningless for me.



ConceptuallyCurious
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08 Feb 2015, 12:28 pm

I got 6 on my last go at it. I've not seen a score that low in research about it and must assume that either my self-report is low or something else is wrong with my empathy. The latter is also possible, as it has previously been suggested by psychologists that I have problems with affective empathy.

I do care about whether are hurt and try not to make people sad but it doesn't make me sad that others are sad.



Jensen
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08 Feb 2015, 12:31 pm

Yes. Many of the questions are hard to answer. thy are rather one-faceted.


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eric76
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08 Feb 2015, 12:58 pm

6

There must be a mistake somewhere.



Rocket123
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08 Feb 2015, 1:41 pm

ConceptuallyCurious wrote:
I got 6 on my last go at it. I've not seen a score that low in research about it and must assume that either my self-report is low or something else is wrong with my empathy. The latter is also possible, as it has previously been suggested by psychologists that I have problems with affective empathy.

I do care about whether are hurt and try not to make people sad but it doesn't make me sad that others are sad.

When I am around others who are sad, I base my response on how I would I react – if I were in that same situation. I would only become sad IF I can imagine myself in that same situation and if, when I was in that same situation, I would feel sad. I have no idea what this means, it’s simply how I process information.



Campin_Cat
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08 Feb 2015, 2:38 pm

AspieUtah wrote:
Campin_Cat wrote:
AspieUtah wrote:
I tend to intellectualize my empathy.

I'm curious as to what that means.....

Does that mean that when you see someone feeling "whatever", that you think to yourself: "They're feeling that way because of this, and this, and this.....", and then you don't feel for them, or something? The reason I'm asking is because I would like to feel LESS for people, sometimes.....


I want to empathize for others, but, when it comes to actually saying something or doing something, I act in ways that are rational, not emotional. I suggest that others' bad experiences might actually have certain benefits. Apparently not what they want to hear at the moment. It is what I have done with my own bad experiences throughout my life. I guess I figure that it works for me (and calms me from believing that the world has collapsed), and try to encourage others to think similarly. They don't understand my intent and seem to believe that I agree with (or enjoy) their experiences.


Oh, I see, now..... I think, maybe, the problem is that you're not saying, things like: "I'm sorry you're feeling, so badly", "I'm sorry that happened, to you"----in other words, you're not adding the personal element, maybe. People don't wanna hear that "things'll get better"----or, "but, there's this GOOD part"----people wanna hear that you're feeling, for them. It's good that you're thinking about "this is what I have done, and it helps me"----but, the problem is, maybe, that most Aspies feel so differently, about things.

eric76 wrote:
There must be a mistake somewhere.


Yeah, I'm thinking it's like others have said..... The questions are confusing to us Aspies. I always have difficulty taking tests like this, because there's no, like, "wiggle-room"----there's never a "maybe" option, or a "sometimes", option, or whatever. How can one say: "It's like THIS----BOOM"----or, "It's NOT like this----BOOM"? ("boom", meaning, like, "period")



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08 Feb 2015, 2:48 pm

Exactly!


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