The empathy quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences
- PMID: 15162935
- DOI: 10.1023/b:jadd.0000022607.19833.00
The empathy quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences
Abstract
Empathy is an essential part of normal social functioning, yet there are precious few instruments for measuring individual differences in this domain. In this article we review psychological theories of empathy and its measurement. Previous instruments that purport to measure this have not always focused purely on empathy. We report a new self-report questionnaire, the Empathy Quotient (EQ), for use with adults of normal intelligence. It contains 40 empathy items and 20 filler/control items. On each empathy item a person can score 2, 1, or 0, so the EQ has a maximum score of 80 and a minimum of zero. In Study 1 we employed the EQ with n = 90 adults (65 males, 25 females) with Asperger Syndrome (AS) or high-functioning autism (HFA), who are reported clinically to have difficulties in empathy. The adults with AS/HFA scored significantly lower on the EQ than n = 90 (65 males, 25 females) age-matched controls. Of the adults with AS/HFA, 81% scored equal to or fewer than 30 points out of 80, compared with only 12% of controls. In Study 2 we carried out a study of n = 197 adults from a general population, to test for previously reported sex differences (female superiority) in empathy. This confirmed that women scored significantly higher than men. The EQ reveals both a sex difference in empathy in the general population and an empathy deficit in AS/HFA.
Similar articles
-
The systemizing quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, and normal sex differences.Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2003 Feb 28;358(1430):361-74. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2002.1206. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 2003. PMID: 12639333 Free PMC article.
-
The Friendship Questionnaire: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism, and normal sex differences.J Autism Dev Disord. 2003 Oct;33(5):509-17. doi: 10.1023/a:1025879411971. J Autism Dev Disord. 2003. PMID: 14594330
-
Do Adults with High Functioning Autism or Asperger Syndrome Differ in Empathy and Emotion Recognition?J Autism Dev Disord. 2016 Jun;46(6):1931-1940. doi: 10.1007/s10803-016-2698-4. J Autism Dev Disord. 2016. PMID: 26883645 Free PMC article.
-
Asperger syndrome revisited.Rev Neurol Dis. 2006 Winter;3(1):1-7. Rev Neurol Dis. 2006. PMID: 16596080 Review.
-
[Differentiation between childhood autism and Asperger's syndrome].Nihon Rinsho. 2007 Mar;65(3):487-91. Nihon Rinsho. 2007. PMID: 17354563 Review. Japanese.
Cited by
-
Preliminary assessment of the psychometric properties of the Polish version of the Questionnaire to Assess Affective and Cognitive Empathy (QAACE) in Children.Curr Issues Personal Psychol. 2023 Jun 23;12(2):100-108. doi: 10.5114/cipp/163186. eCollection 2024. Curr Issues Personal Psychol. 2023. PMID: 38807695 Free PMC article.
-
Reduced contrast sensitivity, pattern electroretinogram ratio, and diminished a-wave amplitude in patients with major depressive disorder.Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2024 May 28. doi: 10.1007/s00406-024-01826-8. Online ahead of print. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2024. PMID: 38805071
-
Neuronal Correlates of Empathy: A Systematic Review of Event-Related Potentials Studies in Perceptual Tasks.Brain Sci. 2024 May 16;14(5):504. doi: 10.3390/brainsci14050504. Brain Sci. 2024. PMID: 38790482 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Inter-subject correlation of audience facial expressions predicts audience engagement during theatrical performances.iScience. 2024 Apr 29;27(6):109843. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2024.109843. eCollection 2024 Jun 21. iScience. 2024. PMID: 38779478 Free PMC article.
-
Moral foundations in autistic people and people with systemizing minds.Mol Autism. 2024 May 14;15(1):20. doi: 10.1186/s13229-024-00591-8. Mol Autism. 2024. PMID: 38745228 Free PMC article.
References
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Other Literature Sources
Medical
Research Materials