Measuring empathizing and systemizing with a large US sample

PLoS One. 2012;7(2):e31661. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0031661. Epub 2012 Feb 22.

Abstract

A large number of people completed one of two versions of the empathizing quotient (EQ) and systemizing quotient (SQ). One version had the negatively phrased items all re-worded. These re-worded items were answered more rapidly than the original items, and for the SQ produced a more reliable scale. Subjects gave self-assessments of empathizing and systemizing, and these were moderately correlated, r ≈ .6, with their respective quotients. Females had on average higher empathizing scores and males had on average higher systemizing scores. If a female-male pair was chosen at random, the female would have the higher empathizing score about two-thirds of the time, and the males would have the higher systemizing score about two-thirds of the time.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • Age Factors
  • Aged
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Attitude
  • Emotions*
  • Empathy*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Self-Assessment
  • Sex Factors
  • Surveys and Questionnaires
  • United States