a couple of questions I don't know how to answer

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aspie quizzes here and there have these on them

something along the lines of "are you good at imagining what it is like to be another person?"

I don't know how to answer this. If I am good at it, would I know it? What do most people think about their ability to imagine being someone else?

"do you look at the big picture or small details?" this one stumps me too. I think I do both...I look at the big picture but my big picture is exponentially larger than most NT people (I gather this from feedback and funny looks I get with 'what does that have to do with it') and I also focus on small details, sometimes things alot of people miss or gloss right over, that end up being relevant. Do other people get stumped on these?

I take the first one as 'do you understand people?' Because I can write about other people but they have my personality, but I often don't get why people do things or act a certain way. So 'no' would be my answer.
For the second one I'd choose the one I do more. I get stuck on details.

Why would I like to imagine being another person. I'm my own person, and I live my life as I see, fit for myself, and not as I see it fit for my typical peers.

for the 'another person' one, I think about being in the other person's body. Then I imagine getting up and walking over and looking in the mirror and seeing myself, but in their body (when I see this question I always pick one of my friends to pretend to be). It's kind of like a "Freaky Friday" thing, in my mind. And then I try to decide if I was 'good at it' or not. But how do you rate yourself?

Well it is more like empathy. If you see someone in a difficult situation can you put yourself in their position mentally and try to see their point of view? The old adage "walk a mile in someone else's shoes" come to mind. For example, if someone you know is having a very hard time with financial problems and do not socialize as much as they used to with your group, do you think "well I would not go out as much if I had to pay off some bills either" or would you think," well she doesnt seem to like us anymore" or why cant she just go with us?" You would empathize if you choose the first one because can figure out how having a lot of bills will make a person curb thier social life even if you don't have the same problems yourself.

Maybe the example isn't so great, but hopefully it illustrates the concept.

Edit: This is one I could answer positively because over the years I have really worked on this skill. Details over "big picture" I had to really think of but I knew what to pick. The problems I have on some of the quizzes is that the hypothetical type questions were driving me crazy. I am not into trains or bus schedules. If the question is about specific obsessions I am not sure what to answer. I am also not into birds or plants, but I do know that if I were into them I would know actual species and phyla, whatever names because I am anal like that.

I think that the way those questions are worded is very confusing.

The "are you good at imagining what it is like to be another person?" is about understanding other people's motivations and seeing things from their points of view. I agree that it's impossible to try to imagine someone else's point of view and know whether or not one is doing a good job of it. I look to situations I've been in to try to answer that one.

For instance, I posted a comment on someone's blog saying that my experience with a particular group of people had been much more negative than the experience with them that she was describing in her post. She was really angry and snide with me about it, and I didn't know why, until she got mad enough to tell me she knew I was just using her website to air my dirty laundry. Until she said that, I had been completely unable to put myself in her shoes and figure out what she was thinking or how she would react to what I wrote. So, I think I am not good at imaging what it's like to be someone else, who has a different way of looking at things.

"Do you look at the big picture or small details?" is about not seeing the forest for the trees. If you're so focused on the details of a situation, you can fail to see the situation as a whole.

I have to admit I am slightly irked by the explanations...thanks everyone by the feedback. I am wondering why they just don't say 'do you feel you are empathetic' if that is what they mean. Or 'do you understand why other people react a certain way in 'x' situation' and give an example like people here do. Apparently it is not like I thought it was at all. I still don't know how it answer it, except that it varies with the situation, probably.

I think they do that so that the responses aren't so obvious so people can't answer in a way to get the results they want maybe? Or they don't think people know what empathetic means? I find them confusing too... like there's one about whether you'd rather go to a museum or a theatre that always gets me because it depends on the theatre or museum of course.. It's the problem with multiple choice questions in general.. you're always going to lose accuracy in favour of convenience because some people aren't going to understand what the question is saying.

I think half the time if you read the questions on these things enough to wonder what it means, even if it is just a quiz "do you like tomato soup" you already put your foot onto the spectrum.

thanks for the help, I was thinking you meant big picture instead of small, that's why I asked for clarification