empathy and social anxiety

[a bit different]

I have been wondering whether social anxiety correlates with empathy and would like to know how you guys score on a empathy test. so take the test and post your score whatever you get. I scored 28 out of a possible 80 points, the higher the score the more empathy you have. Average general population scores are 42 and 46 for men and women respectivly. To take the test search empathy test on google and click on the first result. And remeber for the purpose of getting representive results, please do the test and post your results regardless of whether you think you have high or low empathy or what results you obtain from the test. Thanks.

[Mo34]

I Scored 48.

[TTSP]

I scored 59, I'm possibly too empathetic for my own good.

[Tom Morello]

23, another check for the possible autism list.

[Tom Morello]

I didn't even know how to answer half these questions, like I don't get people talking to me about their problems or saying I'm understanding so I put disagree but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm not an understanding person. I dislike these tests.

[GoldFish]

Empathy levels are very high...

Example..

At work I go out of my way to help people and this makes me very self conscious as I am too concerned about other people and not what is happening in my own mind...

Where as I notice people who are confident in personality and in ego are overly concerned with themselves and lack empathy but are very good at getting along with other egos...it's like they are in a Perpetual state of uninhibited intoxication, only they are sober and that's just them.

[Progress]

I got 44.
I'm sure years ago my score would have been much lower, so it makes me think that empathy can be a learned thing rather than purely innate.
I'm guessing that isolation can easily emphasise a lack of empathy if a person is inclined that way (as I am). My years of therapy and places like this forum have given me a lot more empathy I'm sure.

I wonder if a lot of the scores are biased by isolation, rather than being as much an autistic spectrum issue as it seems. With some of the answers I answered that I was very perceptive about others feelings. But in reality I don't always act on them because I wasn't brought up to be an actively caring person.

[Pandapop]

Your Empathy Quotient score was 72 out of a possible 80.

[lone*star]

40

So about average for a mere male.

[pheys]

28 and it's a very poor test in my opinion

[Aelwyn]

65.

[weirdigan]

I got 48. I actually thought I might get higher, d'ho!!

For me it depends on my mood. If I'm in a good place - I feel lots of empathy for people. If I'm feeling low - I get pretty self-obsessed I guess....and there's no room to worry about others. Selfish I know :-(

[Consolida]

Your Empathy Quotient score was 63 out of a possible 80.
Scores above 30 are generally not indicitive of an Autism Spectrum disorder.

I generally take these tests with a pinch of salt.

As far as feeling empathy for others goes, I always try to put myself in other people's shoes and will often get very upset over other people's unhappiness (many a post here has made me cry) but I'm also prone to severe bouts of depression when I start to drown in my own self absorbing thoughts and I think then I must come across as very negative and selfish

I've never cut up a worm accept accidentally when I've been digging in the garden and I felt bad about it afterwards so I hope that counts as having an empathy for worms

[taafe]

44. But not sure if I answered them all correctly, I don't really know myself like that so so some questions I had to guess.

[Distance]

62.

Originally Posted by MissRibble

Why the question "I am best in the morning " ? I'm probably being dense but how is it related to empathy?

I'm guessing they're not all scored questions. If you throw in some questions that have nothing to do with the topic at hand it makes it less likely that people will (either deliberately or without realising they're doing it) give what they assume to be the "high scoring" answers.

[Olly.]

46, though some questions were difficult to answer seeing as though I'm never in social situations anyway.

[hollowone]

Scored 46

I think a handful of the questions are quite a poor indicator of empathy. For example, the questions about predicting what people might be thinking towards you, about being able to tell whether someone's bored, these are going to be biased by social anxiety-based thinking. If you're in a situation where you're not feeling comfortable, the anxiety you experience will cause you mis-interpret things, such as someone's body language. more negatively than you would in the absence of anxiety. It'll make you much more likely to interpret someone as being bored of your company, and not wanting you around, or to misinterpret things as signs that you're not welcome. Some of the questions are better at measuring how anxiety-biased your thinking is in a specific situation rather than your overall level of empathy.

I think questions revolving around the themes and situations talked about in this article
http://www.succeedsocially.com/empathy
would be a more accurate and reliable indicator.

[Cognitive]

Scored 42, most of my answers were slightly this, or, slightly that, interesting though

[kiki]

I scored 63

[Focused]

46.

[black_mamba]

I know my score is going to be very high. If anything, I wish I had less empathy.

Just took the test. My result was 43.

Strange test. Seemed more focused on social sensory perception and emotional intelligence in general than empathy specifically. The whole list making thing too, what's that about? A common link to autism?

[tom88]

I scored 53, I agree with hollowone that some of the questions will be biased by social-anxiety based thinking

[Ajax Amsterdam]

I got 70 out of 80.
Just as well, really, with empathy being a key aspect of being a trained counsellor.

I'm with MissRibble on this. Personally, I tend to find less empathy generally in people with SA and similar issues. That's no criticism either. Just an observation that when overwhelmed and swamped in our own feelings, thoughts and emotions, it's incredibly dificult to accurately track, get a feel for and sense the feelings and emotions of others. It's immensely hard to 'be in someone else's shoes' when we are struggling moment by moment being in our own.

I always used to confuse my own sensitivity with actually being sensitive generally. It's one thing being sensitive to our own emotions, but it's quite another being accurately sensitive to the emotions of another (empathic).

Having said the above, I find that when you finally find peace with yourself, your previous experience of SA and its associated issues can really help when it comes to understanding the issues of others and also empathising more accurately with them. It doesn't always follow, but it can do.

[Rummy]

38 Around average for a bloke.
At least it wasn't below 30.

[Scott03]

I scored 60.

I do think that I would have scored higher if I didn't have social anxiety.

[Flash]

32, although some of the questions asked about situations I haven't really been in.

[girlinterrupted]

Your Empathy Quotient score was 72 out of a possible 80

Higher than I thought it would be although I did think it would be on the high-side,as I cry at news/documentaries so easily I often can`t even watch them,same even with fictional weepie films as I know many people would be in those real life situations and I find myself projecting into their positions.

Regarding sensitivity in general I think it`s quite common to be very (or even overly) sensitive to perceived slights or criticisms of ourselves while being unaware of others feelings. Most forms of mental health problems I think can make us prone to becoming insular and inward-looking.

Also,Hi BM and Benfica long time no see

[Chimpy]

68, because I'm one of those touchy feely men (no not that sort).

[Hood]

I got 52 for what it's worth.

[Belinda]

I got 72 but the test does seem to measure how empathic you believe yourself to be rather than how empathic you actually are (which is much harder to measure in an online test) so as usual the jury is out on whether it actually means anything.