I've been thinking a lot about empathy, between my classes and things going on politically. Having or not having empathy is not necessarily a good or bad thing, it's just having the ability to share in someone else's emotions as well as understand them. Besides I find more people to be sympathetic than empathetic.
This is an empathy quotient test. It would be cool to see how empathetic or not empathetic the community is (:
My score: 70/80
p.s. at the end it talks about how an under 30 could be indicative of an autism spectrum disorder but please don't take that as any sort of diagnosis // happy test taking!
Poll
are you more sympathetic or empathetic or neither?
neither11
sympathetic8
empathetic8
deletedover 9 years ago
my first TV crush was wishbone
deletedover 9 years ago
actually that was my second TV crush
deletedover 9 years ago
the mute star trek empath was my first TV crush and i got sad when i thought about how she was either old or dead
ya i know i said 10 minutes when my post was 8 minutes after hers but thats cuz i rounded up.
deletedover 9 years ago
ive been sitting here staring at my screen for like 10 minutes trying to come up with a joke to reply to your post snk, but everything seems either too easy, dumb, or plain not witty enough
i give up. you win this round.
deletedover 9 years ago
what happened
deletedover 9 years ago
Your Empathy Quotient score was 51 out of a possible 80.
Hmm... at least from personal perspective I've found my social anxiety to pertain more to me than the other person. Like I project my own feelings/fears and make myself believe that another person is thinking something to validate those feelings and fears. Rather than understanding what they are feeling, I am creating feelings for them that may or may not be true. But yeah the isolation bit I definitely agree with. I have a tendency to be way less social with people because I'm apprehensive but it doesn't mean I don't long for that interaction.
Yeah that's a solid point, I just didn't want ppl to feel bad if they don't show high levels of empathy. As for the "just the ability bit" I was just trying to explain it simply. Empathy is complex but some people don't believe it's truly a real thing. I don't know, personally I find it fascinating, and as someone who is interested in human behavior I think seeing how people can be empathetic vs. not empathetic is interesting to how it contributes to their entire personality, or rather things that could have influenced their level of empathy.
Your Empathy Quotient score was 15 out of a possible 80.
Didn't expect a big score, but this is off. I can read people in social situations just fine and answered in the middle for most questions. This is why online quizzes are not trusted.
Which is normal because sympathy is far less developed than empathy. You can be taught that certain events are sad and carry a sad demeanor and that you should feel sympathy. But empathy is beyond that and more-often can't be felt for sad events to strangers but usually people you're emotionally close to.
If some person dies and you see it on the news, you may feel sympathy. If your close friend dies, you'll feel empathy. There's just such a large difference it's weird to see people siding with one over the other, especially when one is so much more complex and matured.
Having empathy is always a good thing. There's going to be a huge difference interacting with a person that can't understand you oppose to can. You'll never choose someone that can't relate/understand you on an emotional level if the option to pick someone that can exists.
I like how downplayed this comes off with "it's JUST having the ability". Empathy is one of the most important abilities one can develop. It's an extremely mature skill and not everyone develops it.
Poll
