The Cambridge Autism Research Center Emapthy Test

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Eh, link is dead. I think I might have taken this one before, and got 20 something, think it was like 28. Anyway, I find the gender statistics interesting, mainly because much more women have apparently taken the test than men, including those with a diagnosis. Also interesting is that while it's all in the same general area, the empathy quotient for suspected males is lower than the actual diagnosed average, while for girls it's higher.

I'm mostly like this.
I help people without hesitation if they ask and I can help.
But I very rarely ask for help myself.
I'm not good at showing empathy, sometimes it doesn't seem to mean anything.

I scored an 11.

Again here is the link - if anyone wants to try this self-reporting exam



Cambridge University Autism Research Center Empathy Quiz

I got 27. I knew it wouldn't be a really low number because I know I feel empathy and compassion for others. I am a bit surprised though that I scored lower than what the average NT scored... 36 for males and 41 for females. Compared to that, 27 feels really low. I'm kinda disappointed actually.

I scored 25.0

44.0

Good God. That was not what I expected.

I answered a few questions on the optimistic side, but I bet the real reason is because most of the people I've talked to have been women or oversensitive guys in the past few years. Not to mention, getting away from the harsh environment of high school has made me much more empathetic in the first place.

I got a 12. I agree some of the questions are hard to answer. eg Do people like to tell you their feelings - well people do, but that's more because I'm non verbal and they don't get interrupted rather than that I have some great empathy for their situation.

I have a selection of empathetic responses in my repertoire of social responses, they don't always work and I often pick the wrong one.

I know exactly what you're saying, and I agree. I know what it feels like to have the privileged majority tell you "this is our world, you have to play by our rules." It's like having the American media call the Iraqi people "violent" when they're the ones bringing all the weapons into our country. I don't want to derail the thread with politics so I'll say no more, but I just want you to know, I know.

I'm glad somebody knows what I mean.
I'm not generalizing, saying NTs aren't empathetic and Aspies are. I'm just saying, I don't think empathy comes into it. I've met Aspies who seemed very natural with empathy, and I've met some NTs who seemed very selfish and only saw everything from their point of view and didn't consider other people's feelings.
I mean, why do so many depressed people get misunderstood? If more people could put themselves into the shoes of a person with depression, people with depression would be a lot more understood. I know a man who had a nervous breakdown and suffers from depression, and finds work daunting because of it. He's been criticized that he should ''just get over it'', and he feels that nobody knows how he feels. Some people do, even if they have never experienced depression before, and usually those are the really empathetic types.
And lastly, often on WP there has been many definitions of empathy. One time I got told that if you feel awkward when somebody is crying, you lack empathy, even if you can feel what that person is feeling. Empathy isn't just about what to do when someone is crying. And I've had tears at work before, and I could tell some people felt awkward and unsure what to say to me or what to do, others cried with me, and others seemed more sympathetic, and others didn't care at all. Everybody's different. So not even every NT reacts to someone crying in exactly the same way. Personally when I see somebody crying it makes me cry, and I try to comfort them.

8,

Do agree with what others have said about some of the questions being difficult to answer. I found myself hovering between answers at times.

11, but I think it should be slightly higher - like 18.

23.0

In some of those questions it was very clear that your willingness to deceive, - lie to make someone feel better, would result in your scoring higher and showing that you have more empathy.
I don't think that I realized before that deception was built into empathy.
This is bad.

I scored 25.

I'll never agree that it's right and good to deceive others. If that's part of my ASD, then it's a part I truly love about myself.

Scored 15. Of course these kind of tests have the associated problems that self reporting have. One can under- and/or overestimate the answer on certain questions.