Empathy Quotient
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Empathy quotient (EQ) is a psychological self-report measure of
empathy Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...
developed by
Simon Baron-Cohen Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958) is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of ...
and Sally Wheelwright at the
Autism Research Centre The Autism Research Centre (ARC) is a research institute that is a part of the Department of Developmental Psychiatry at the University of Cambridge, England. ARC's research goal is to understand the biomedical causes of autism spectrum conditio ...
at the University of Cambridge. EQ is based on a definition of empathy that includes
cognition Cognition refers to "the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses". It encompasses all aspects of intellectual functions and processes such as: perception, attention, thought, ...
and affect. According to the authors of the measure, empathy is a combination of the ability to feel an appropriate
emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or displeasure. There is currently no scientific consensus on a definition. ...
in response to another's emotion and the ability to understand anothers' emotion (this is associated with the
theory of mind In psychology, theory of mind refers to the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them (that is, surmising what is happening in their mind). This includes the knowledge that others' mental states may be different fro ...
). EQ was designed to fill a measurement gap by measuring empathy exclusively; other measures such as the Questionnaire Measure of Emotional Empathy and the Empathy Scale have multiple factors that are uncorrelated with empathy but are associated with
social skills A social skill is any competence facilitating interaction and communication with others where social rules and relations are created, communicated, and changed in verbal and nonverbal ways. The process of learning these skills is called social ...
or the ability to be emotionally aroused in general. EQ tests the empathizing–systemizing theory, a theory that places individuals in different brain-type categories based on their tendencies toward empathy and system creation, and that was intended to determine clinically the role of lack of empathy in
psychopathology Psychopathology is the study of abnormal cognition, behaviour, and experiences which differs according to social norms and rests upon a number of constructs that are deemed to be the social norm at any particular era. Biological psychopatholo ...
, and in particular to screen for
autism spectrum disorder The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental disorder, neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) ...
.


Format and scoring

The EQ consists of 60 items: 40 items relating to empathy and 20 control items. "On each empathy item a person can score 2, 1, or 0." A 40-item version of the test containing only the relevant questions is also available, but may be less reliable in certain applications. Each item is a first-person statement which the test-taker must rate as either "strongly agree", "slightly agree", "slightly disagree", or "strongly disagree". All questions must be answered for the test results to be valid. The test is scored on a scale of 0 (the least empathetic possible) to 80 (the most empathetic possible). A useful cut-off of 30 was established to screen for autism-spectrum disorders.


Development of the measure

Together with the systematizing quotient, the empathy quotient tests
Simon Baron-Cohen Sir Simon Philip Baron-Cohen (born 15 August 1958) is a British clinical psychologist and professor of developmental psychopathology at the University of Cambridge. He is the director of the university's Autism Research Centre and a Fellow of ...
's empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory of autism. This cognitive theory attempts to account for two aspects of autism disorder: the social and communication barriers and the narrow interest and attention to detail. Baron-Cohen associated the social and communication barriers with a lack of empathy, not only a lack of
theory of mind In psychology, theory of mind refers to the capacity to understand other people by ascribing mental states to them (that is, surmising what is happening in their mind). This includes the knowledge that others' mental states may be different fro ...
but also an inability to respond to others' thoughts and emotions. He associated the narrow interest and attention to detail with a special ability to systematize or analyze.Baron-Cohen, S., Richler, J., Bisarya, D., Gurunathan, N., & Wheelwright, S. (2003). "The systemizing quotient: An investigation of adults with asperger syndrome or high–functioning autism, and normal sex differences." The Royal Society, 358(1430), 361–374. doi:10.1098/rstb.2002.1206 This theory is consistent with the findings that individuals with autism score significantly higher on the systemizing quotient and lower on the empathizing quotient than the general population. Although these score differences have been found consistently, there is controversy about whether the autistic brain differs qualitatively or quantitatively. E-S theory is also associated with a theory of autism called the extreme male brain theory. That theory is based on the finding that males score significantly higher on the systemizing quotient and lower on the empathy quotient than females in both adult and child populations,Auyeung, B., Wheelwright, S., Allison, C., Atkinson, M., Samarawickrema, N., & Baron Cohen, S. (2009). "The Children’s empathy quotient and systemizing quotient: Sex differences in typical development and in autism spectrum conditions." ''Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39''(11), 1509–1521. doi:10.1007/s10803-009-0772-x and that scores of the autistic population were also higher on systemizing and lower on empathizing but to an extreme. Baron-Cohen hypothesized that the tendencies of autistic scores to be similar to male scores might imply that the autistic brain is more like the male than the female brain in general, and that this might be due to prenatal
testosterone Testosterone is the primary sex hormone and anabolic steroid in males. In humans, testosterone plays a key role in the development of Male reproductive system, male reproductive tissues such as testes and prostate, as well as promoting secondar ...
. This hypothesis explains the sex difference in the
prevalence In epidemiology, prevalence is the proportion of a particular population found to be affected by a medical condition (typically a disease or a risk factor such as smoking or seatbelt use) at a specific time. It is derived by comparing the number o ...
of autism (male-female ratio: 4:1 for autism, 10.8:1 for
Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's, is a former neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in Interpersonal relationship, social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted and re ...
). The extreme male brain theory is controversial, and tests of the hypothesis had mixed findings on the correlation between biological indicators of prenatal testosterone and scores on the systemizing quotient and empathy quotient. Chapman et al. found that male children who had been exposed to more prenatal testosterone scored lower on the EQ, indicating that there is not only a sex difference in empathy but also a difference within the male population which is correlated with prenatal testosterone. There is also evidence against this theory. For example, one possible biomarker for prenatal testosterone's effect on the brain is a low ratio of the second to fourth finger (the 2D:4D ratio), which has been found to be associated with several male-specific psychological factors. A significantly lower 2D:4D ratio than the general population has been found in autistic individuals, however there was no correlation between the empathizing and systemizing quotients and the 2D:4D ratio. The authors give many possible explanations for this finding which are contrary to the extreme male brain theory of autism, for example it is possible that the psychometric properties of the quotients are lacking or that the theory itself is incorrect and the difference in autistic brains is not an extreme of normal functioning but of a different structure altogether.Voracek, M., & Dressler, S. (2006). "Lack of correlation between digit ratio (2D:4D) and Baron-Cohen’s “Reading the mind in the eyes” test, empathy, systemising, and autism-spectrum quotients in a general population sample." ''Personality and Individual Differences, 41''(8), 1481–1491. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2006.06.009


Psychometric properties

There is evidence for the of the EQ from the method by which the measure was created. In initial testing, the EQ was examined by a panel of six
experimental psychologists An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when a ...
, who were asked to rate the match of the items in the measure to the following definition of empathy: "Empathy is the drive or ability to attribute mental states to another person/animal, and entails an appropriate affective response in the observer to the other person’s mental state." This definition is based on Baron-Cohen's theory of empathy which includes both a cognitive and affective response to another individual's emotions. Each of the 40 empathy items were rated as relating to the definition of empathy, while all 20 control items were rated as not related, by at least five out of six experimenters. The EQ has also demonstrated other kinds of reliability. Lawrence et al. found strong
inter-rater reliability In statistics, inter-rater reliability (also called by various similar names, such as inter-rater agreement, inter-rater concordance, inter-observer reliability, inter-coder reliability, and so on) is the degree of agreement among independent obse ...
and
test-retest reliability Repeatability or test–retest reliability is the closeness of the agreement between the results of successive measurements of the same measure, when carried out under the same conditions of measurement. In other words, the measurements are taken ...
for the EQ. They also found that the EQ has a moderate correlation with the "empathetic concern" and "perspective taking" sub-scales of the
Interpersonal Reactivity Index The Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) is a published measurement tool for the multi-dimensional assessment of empathy. It was developed by Mark H. Davis, a professor of psychology at Eckerd College. This version was used to measure empathy in C ...
Shaw, P., Baker, D., Baron Cohen, S., Lawrence, E. J., & David, A. S. (2004). "Measuring empathy: Reliability and validity of the empathy quotient." ''Psychological Medicine, 34''(5), 911–919. doi:10.1017/S0033291703001624 This is another measure of empathy that the authors of the EQ considered to be the best empathy measure before creating their own, but which includes sub-scales that measure more than empathy. This indicates that the EQ has
concurrent validity Concurrent validity is a type of evidence that can be gathered to defend the use of a test for predicting other outcomes. It is a parameter used in sociology, psychology, and other Psychometrics, psychometric or behavioral sciences. Concurrent vali ...
. There has been concern that
social desirability In social science research, social-desirability bias is a type of response bias that is the tendency of survey respondents to answer questions in a manner that will be viewed favorably by others. It can take the form of over-reporting "good behavi ...
might influence EQ score because certain items correlate with the social desirability scale. It is suggested that these items either be dropped or that social desirability be measured in conjunction with the EQ. The authors of this study also suggest that the EQ be revised to include only 28 items divided into three separate categories of empathy including "cognitive empathy, emotional reactivity, and social skills." Doubts have been raised about the
validity Validity or Valid may refer to: Science/mathematics/statistics: * Validity (logic), a property of a logical argument * Scientific: ** Internal validity, the validity of causal inferences within scientific studies, usually based on experiments ** ...
and
reliability Reliability, reliable, or unreliable may refer to: Science, technology, and mathematics Computing * Data reliability (disambiguation), a property of some disk arrays in computer storage * High availability * Reliability (computer networking), a ...
of the EQ. One study found a lack of correlation between the EQ and the 2D:4D ratio, as mentioned above. That study did not directly measure the psychometric properties of the empathy quotient, but indicated that there may be an issue either with the E-S theory or with the measure itself.


Revised questionnaires

Based on the findings about the psychometric properties of the EQ, there is of the EQ into three sub-categories (the three-factor model): cognitive empathy, emotional reactivity, and social skills. The original authors did not create those divisions because they considered it impossible to separate the cognitive from the emotional aspects of empathy. Based on an analysis of the
internal consistency In statistics and research, internal consistency is typically a measure based on the correlations between different items on the same test (or the same subscale on a larger test). It measures whether several items that propose to measure the same g ...
of the scale, a team which included the original authors found that the original questionnaire contained some irrelevant questions. They produced a shortened version of the scale containing 28 items.
Principal component analysis Principal component analysis (PCA) is a popular technique for analyzing large datasets containing a high number of dimensions/features per observation, increasing the interpretability of data while preserving the maximum amount of information, and ...
indicated that this shortened questionnaire was able to measure empathy reliably. The EQ has been translated into several languages including Serbian, Russian, and Dutch. The reliability of the Serbian 40-question scale was lower than the English version, and the original theory that empathy is a one-factor concept was not confirmed. The translation of the shortened 28-question version had higher reliability and there was evidence for the three-factor understanding of empathy. The Russian study also confirmed the three-factor model. A study of the Dutch version also confirmed the three-factor model, and indicated good cross-cultural validity in Europe and the US, but less so in Asia.Groen, Y., Fuermaier, A. B. M., Den Heijer, A. E., Tucha, O., & Althaus, M. (2015). "The Empathy and Systemizing Quotient: The Psychometric Properties of the Dutch Version and a Review of the Cross-Cultural Stability." ''Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders'', 45(9), 2848–2864. http://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-015-2448-z


See also

*
Empathy Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within their frame of reference, that is, the capacity to place oneself in another's position. Definitions of empathy encompass a broad range of social, co ...
*
Emotional intelligence Emotional intelligence (EI) is most often defined as the ability to perceive, use, understand, manage, and handle emotions. People with high emotional intelligence can recognize their own emotions and those of others, use emotional information ...
* Emotional thought method


References


External links


EQ test – Online format
{{Autism resources Autism screening and assessment tools Empathy