Self-assessment · Empathy

Empathy Quotient

The EQ-Short is a 20-item measure developed by Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright to assess cognitive empathy, the ability to read social situations, understand others' perspectives, and respond to their emotions. It is widely used in autism research and clinical assessment. Takes about 4 minutes.

20questions

~4 minto complete

Freeno sign-up needed

Question 1 of 200%

Your results

Score interpretation (0–40)

0–11Low empathy range

12–19Below average

20–29Average range

30–40Above average

The EQ-Short was developed by Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright (2004). Published means: neurotypical adults ~20–26 (women slightly higher); autistic adults ~8–12. This measure captures cognitive empathy, social reading and perspective-taking, not affective empathy (feeling others' emotions). Autistic individuals often score low on cognitive empathy measures while having high affective empathy. A low score is not diagnostic and should be interpreted alongside other clinical information.

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Two kinds of empathy

Cognitive empathy

The ability to identify and understand others' mental states, reading facial expressions, inferring intentions, predicting reactions. The EQ primarily measures this form. Differences in cognitive empathy are strongly associated with autism spectrum presentations.

Affective empathy

The capacity to feel what others feel, emotional resonance, compassion, and the experience of being moved by others' distress. This is not well captured by the EQ, and many autistic people report high levels of affective empathy that are not reflected in their cognitive empathy scores.

Next steps

Scores tell part of the story. Assessment tells the rest.

A low EQ score, especially alongside other signs of atypical social processing, can be one piece of a larger picture. A comprehensive evaluation looks at the full cognitive and emotional profile, not just individual screening tools.

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