Empathy test - weird questions

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I had always thought that I am quite emphatic, but today I have taken test: http://glennrowe.net/baroncohen/empathy ... tient.aspx
and I've got very low score. Some question puzzled me, e.g.:

I cannot see how answer on mentioned questions could influence that I am emphatic or not. Could someone explain?

I took the test myself and scored 19.
Re: I dream most nights. Jung suggested that dreams may compensate for one-sided attitudes held in waking consciousness. Someone with little to no empathy, for instance, would have a firestorm of dreams at night.

So the more people dream the less emphatic they are? That's very strange. I think having dreams is a good and healthy thing for us to do as long as they aren't nightmares or too freaky, but the test makes it sound like it's bad.

And why would my being too nervous to ride a roller coaster have to do with empathy? If I don't want to ride a roller coaster and other people teased or pressured me to do it, they'd be the ones who aren't emphatic and not me.

And personally, I don't think not keeping up with the latest trends or fashions is from a lack of empathy, but more from a higher level of intelligence since most trends and fashions today are absolutely repulsive. But the test may have thought differently.

I scored 20 on the test like most people with Asperger's, but I think my empathy has improved a lot over the years. That's what I've been told, anyway.

I've always had a strong opinion about morality, although I totally should NOT since I'm not religious or went to church regularly in my childhood, according to the Bible-thumpers. No, I should be stealing and murdering and studying witchcraft and learning how to be a lesbian! *sarcasm* No my knowledge of right and wrong has nothing to do with how I was raised by my parents or even from all the non-religious books I read as a kid. I did go to a grade school that taught religion, however. Mostly I remember "learning" that it was a sin to disobey your parents-unless, as the teacher admitted- they told you to do something really bad like rob a bank or something. Um, yeah. And that it was never good to feel happy or proud of something good you did or say good things about yourself. Nice.

I got a 19 as well. And, for what it's worth, almost never remember my dreams.

I don't think I lack empathy (not at all), but I definitely do have trouble empathizing in an intuitive way. I have to kind of think my way to it (and then it might/might not affect me emotionally to one degree or another), if that makes any sense.

I didn't have much trouble seeing how pretty much any of the questions touched on empathy, though I was definitely puzzled by:

My guess is it has to do with putting yourself in the place of the people riding it before you, and imagining what the experience of riding it would be like for you. Or maybe not being able to imagine what riding it is like, and therefore being nervous? I'm not quite sure. I think it's worded kind of strangely to get at something like either of those though.

Last edited by palindrome on 10 Jan 2013, 3:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.

2. Discussing with others needs empathy. Not doing so may indicate that you are lacking empathy.
3. I could imagine that living life for today means not planning anything. If you plan, you have to plan in other people, and thinking about other people requires empathy.
4. Morals is something about how to handle other people. Requires empathy.
5. Politics involve other people. -> empathy
6. Perhaps that means that being able to change plans (possibly to include other people or soemthing similar) is requiring some empathy.
7. Really can't tell.
8. Can't tell either.
9. Not sure, perhaps risks are a way of showing others how brave you are.
10. That perhaps references talking to others about it.

Hope that helps.


EDIT: Score 32 here.

Last edited by Baryonyx on 10 Jan 2013, 3:35 pm, edited 2 times in total.

Hmm...
Personally, I missed questions like "I use logic and personal experiences of similar situations to conclude what the person might be thinking".

Other than that I had troubles understanding some questions as well (example: I am at my best first thing in the morning., interpreted it as "When I wake up, I'm somewhat (socially) fit/recharged", not sure if that is correct though), not to mention the fact that I was taught to not do any harm to any worms, humans or animals - unless in the game "Worms" and that I don't tease anybody because I don't want to take it too far (have seen others take it too far and was bullied myself, so I know that even the little teases can eventually hurt).

Some questions aren't "scorers".

I've just played around a bit with the test and stuff like dreaming, liking animals and taking risks or not doesn't influence the score as far as I can see.
My guess is they are there to not make the questions a monotonous "do you like people?", or as a control group that shouldn't get different outcomes depending on being/not being autistic.

Great post overall!

5. Politics is generally adopted as sort of a sterile subject in a conversation, (a little bit more challenging than discussing the weather) to avoid talking about personal issues. An affinity towards talking politics shows a lack of empathy, if anything.
7. Possibly it's about commitment? Empathy requires sustained attention to others, hence commitment.

I scored 20.

I scored an 18 and honestly, I thought I was a relatively empathetic person about some things...If I'd been feeling a tad more cynical while taking this, I can see a 10, ha. I want to see how NT's really do on this.
EDIT: I went back and reversed all of my replies on every question and got a 41...hmm, what is this voodoo? Must have been all the slightly agree/disagree answers that didn't provide a big upswing in empathy.

The EQ has filler questions that have nothing to do with empathy and are not included in the scoring.

Edit: Oh, someone already said that. Carry on.


P.S. 'Emphatic' means having emphasis. You mean 'empathetic'.

I just scored 0...

Your score: 6

This page might be useful for anyone confused about the directionality of their answers.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/table/0,,937442,00.html

I tried to take the test, but the pink with the blue font was really hard to read and the blue was to fuzzy.

Took it and got a 6