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Empathy and Systemising
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The Guardian has a pair of tests that are supposed to test your ability to understand other's feelings and understand complex systems (via Making Light).

Here's how I scored:

Empathy Quotient: 41
Average. Most men score around 42, and most women score around 47.

Systemizing Quotient: 46
Above average. Most women score about 24, and most men score about 30.

And I'm apparently in the range of autistics for the systemizing quotient.

Now, I think the idea of these sorts of tests isn't necessarily bad, but many of the questions are just bone-headed.

Take, for example, this one (from the empathy test):


If anyone asked me if I liked their haircut, I would reply truthfully, even if I didn't like it.


Now, they don't say how the test is scored, but I answered, "Strongly Agree". Why? Not because I'm an insensitive moron, but because I value truth, and I think that insincere flattery is a disservice to both the giver and recipient.

It's my value system, and not my ability to empathize, that compels me to answer the way I did. And I strongly suspect that they docked me empathy points for my answer, categorizing me as an insensitive jackass for not lying to someone about their haircut.

Again, as with most of these kinds of tests, the main problem I have with them is that they're extremely subjective and mostly ill-formed.

Point is, you should be analyzing your own personality, your strengths and weaknesses, and your ability to interact with others on a daily basis. I personally doubt the efficacy of a test to help you do so. If it does, great. But if you're not all that self-analytical, you're probably going to take the test then forget about it a day or two later anyway.

Ah well...it's not a bad little diversion anyway. And people simply love to take little tests that categorize them in one way or another. So have fun.


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