Test - Different types of empathy

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I couldn't really answer most of these questions properly, I wasn't sure exactly what they wanted - I think I am just being too literal, but if I took some of the questions one way I was at one end of the scale, but if I took them another way I was at the opposite end.

I particularly don't understand about "putting myself in someone else's shoes" - is this supposed to mean that I understand their viewpoint rationally, or do I need to be actually fantasizing that I am them? I don't know anyone else well enough to imagine I actually AM them, but I can generally see logically the basis for other viewpoints - is this "putting myself in their shoes" or not? A lot of these questions sound to me like "empathy" is the same as not knowing the difference between my feelings and other people's, and I presume that is not what they actually mean.

I also have issues with the questions relating to empathic concern - I actually scored 0 for this, but I think it is mostly the way the questions are phrased. I mean, a question like "sometimes I don't feel very sorry for other people when they are having problems" - I don't particularly feel sorry for people who have created problems for themselves (like a criminal who is facing jail after being caught) does this actually make me less empathic?

I am also not sure about what it means to be "quite touched" by things - how strong an emotion does that need to be? "Soft-hearted" is also not defined - I tend to think of it as meaning someone who loses all rationality in the face of someone else's emotions, and has trouble separating their own emotions from other people's. As that would generally be considered unhealthy, and empathy is considered to be healthy, I presume I am actually wrong in my definition, but it is still not something I would describe myself as.

PT= 5
PD=16
FS=21
EC=25

Fantasy: 9 (average scores: 15.73 for men; 18.75 for women)
Perspective Taking: 18 (average scores: 16.78 for men; 17.96 for women)
Empathic Concern : 2 (average scores: 19.04 for men; 21.67 for women)
Personal Distress: 8 (average scores: 9.46 for men; 12.28 for women)

Hm...

A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti.

Holden: You're in a desert, walking along in the sand, when all of a sudden you look down...
Leon: What one?
Holden: What?
Leon: What desert?
Holden: It doesn't make any difference what desert, it's completely hypothetical.
Leon: But, how come I'd be there?
Holden: Maybe you're fed up. Maybe you want to be by yourself. Who knows? You look down and see a tortoise, Leon. It's crawling toward you...
Leon: Tortoise? What's that?
Holden: [irritated by Leon's interruptions] You know what a turtle is?
Leon: Of course!
Holden: Same thing.
Leon: I've never seen a turtle... But I understand what you mean.
Holden: You reach down and you flip the tortoise over on its back, Leon.
Leon: Do you make up these questions, Mr. Holden? Or do they write 'em down for you?
Holden: The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't. Not without your help. But you're not helping.
Leon: [angry at the suggestion] What do you mean, I'm not helping?
Holden: I mean: you're not helping! Why is that, Leon?
[Leon has become visibly shaken]
Holden: They're just questions, Leon. In answer to your query, they're written down for me. It's a test, designed to provoke an emotional response... Shall we continue?

PT - 18
FS - 7
EC - 5
PD - 9

Perspective taking is a learned behavior though...

The scoring on this research questionaire is confusing and frustrating. I tried to score my test but kept making mistakes and gave up. They should have just used a numbered scale instead of giving letters and assigning a numbered score to each.

Fantasy: 8
Perspective Taking: 17
Empathic Concern : 0
Personal Distress: 1

Interesting.

Man, that was a tedious scoring process.
I've never been in an emergency before, so I was stumped on those questions.

FS: 8
EC: 3
PT: 11
PD: 9

I scored this in 2008 (was an online version, doesn't seem to be available atm):

Persective-taking: 10
Fantasy: 7
Personal Distress: 4
Empathic Concern: 1

And this is now - hope I got that scoring right:

Persective-taking: 20
Fantasy: 16
Personal Distress: 1
Empathic Concern: 3

Here are my results.

Fantasy: 13 (average scores: 15.73 for men; 18.75 for women)
Perspective Taking: 2 (average scores: 16.78 for men; 17.96 for women)
Empathic Concern : 10 (average scores: 19.04 for men; 21.67 for women)
Personal Distress: 14 (average scores: 9.46 for men; 12.28 for women)

Fantasy: 19 (average scores: 15.73 for men; 18.75 for women)
Perspective Taking: 7 (average scores: 16.78 for men; 17.96 for women)
Empathic Concern : 7 (average scores: 19.04 for men; 21.67 for women)
Personal Distress: 13 (average scores: 9.46 for men; 12.28 for women)

fantasy - 25 (average scores: 15.73 for men; 18.75 for women)
perspective-taking - 8 (average scores: 16.78 for men; 17.96 for women)
empathic concern - 26 (average scores: 19.04 for men; 21.67 for women)
personal distress scale - 8 (average scores: 9.46 for men; 12.28 for women)

well, now. i am working on some of this for a very specific reason - i am trying to teach myself to see things from other people's perspectives as my lack of understanding leads to extreme anxiety in real life social situations. it's different in movies and such as it is all laid out in front of you, but in actual interactions there is no way to be sure.