Empathy Quotient and Systematizing Quotient
According to these tests, my Systematizing Quotient is 22 and my Empathy Quotient is 12. This site says that most women tend to average an SQ of 24 and most men tend to average an SQ of 30, and that most women tend to average an EQ of 47 and most men tend to average an EQ of 42. And someone with High-Functioning Autism or Asperger's Syndrome has EQ of about 20, which is eight points better than mine. I've been feeling downright autistic lately in my dealings with some people (except without the accompanying genius), but I know better than to believe that feeling. This is further demonstration that personality evaluation tests are like psychics: the only answers they give back are the ones you unconsciously feed them. They reveal only what you already know or happen to believe. Throughout the empathy test I kept wondering how anyone can know an answer to give to the questions. If you fail to read people's feelings, how would you know? What if the emotions people think they're reading are just an illusion that they are projecting?
Comments
ded-guy on Jan. 10, 2005 10:18 PM
I scored an SQ of 45 and an EQ of 7.
*shrug*
sothisislife on Jan. 10, 2005 11:15 PM
You are an EQ flunkie!
ded-guy on Jan. 10, 2005 11:18 PM
Yet strangely I feel no remorse.
sothisislife on Jan. 10, 2005 11:14 PM
I scored EQ16 and SQ26, so maybe I'm autistic too? ;)
matt-arnold on Jan. 11, 2005 1:05 AM
These tests bite. How for petesake can you verbally measure the ability to pick up on non-verbal communication?
rmeidaking on Jan. 11, 2005 1:21 AM
I got an EQ of 11, and an SQ of 42. No surprise there!
I've known for a while that I'm a lot more like #1Son (officially diagnosed with Asperger's) than like #2Son (who scored a 0 on his autism screening test....we're still now sure how he did that...).
If you truly want to know how these quizzes work, I can refer you to the psychology textbooks that explain them. Something tells me you don't really want to know that, though. :-)
the-leewit on Jan. 11, 2005 3:21 AM
EQ of 44 and SQ of 50... and I like to think of myself as having an active and lively curiousity, aspiring to an awake mind. Never once thought of myself as having Asperger's, and, thinking about it for a moment, reject the notion... perhaps it it a British thing? Is it, perhaps, rude and prying to make certain one reads an entire legal document or notice its spelling/ grammar? And yes, it was much easier for me to answer definitely on the SQ test.
I think your analysis may indeed be correct, but perhaps the "feeder" in this case is the writer of the test?
lorrraine on Jan. 11, 2005 7:00 AM — EQ & SQ
Hi Matt,
I got an EQ of 72 and an SQ of 17. My one objection is that the questions on SQ mostly focus on interest not ability and then they say the score refers to ability. I have an excellent skill at understanding systems, just very little interest in many common systems, hence my low score.
And you are right that the EQ test as written may say more about how good the person thinks they are as opposed to how good they actually are. I, on the other hand, earned that 72.
Thanks,
Lorrraine
phecda on Jan. 11, 2005 5:23 PM — Interesting...
My EQ score was slightly below the male average at 38. My SQ score was way high at 67. The other thing that I noticed was on the EQ test, most of my selections were in the "Slightly Agree/Disagree" category while on the SQ test, most of the questions elicited "Strongly Agree/Disagree" answers.
So, basically I'm a geek with acceptable social skills. And since I learned about it, I've always suspected that I have a tendency towards Aspergers Syndrome. My EQ when I was younger would have been much lower.
And Matt, just as a comment, I think your scores match you reasonably well. You don't have an engineer's mind set, and you are typically oblivious to the outside world. This doesn't make you a bad person -- these tests aren't measuring artistic ability and abstract thought, the two areas where you seem to excel.
Also, there was a complaint by someone else regarding how the questions were phrased. I think this is a difference between British and American use of English. The Guardian is one of the premier British newspapers. I found it perfectly understandable. :-)
matt-arnold on Jan. 11, 2005 5:51 PM — Re: Interesting...
I can believe your comment. But... 12? You suspect yourself of tending toward Asperger's despite an EQ is 38. What does that make a 12? Rain Man? Clinically dead? I still think I skewed my answers low.
phecda on Jan. 11, 2005 6:55 PM — Re: Interesting...
Oh, I'm sure you skewed your answers, and that, along with the cultural and idiom shift from British to American, probably contributed to the low score. But I think if you retook the EQ test, you might end up somewhere between 25 and 35.
Admittedly, I don't know you that well, so I don't have a large data set on your social interactions, but so far, I don't see you as a highly empathic person. This doesn't mean that you're not an interesting and good person to be around. What you lack in empathic socialization, you clearly make up for with enthusiasm. And this is a good thing. :-)
20 years ago, I would probably have scored in the low 20's on this test, so I guess I'm living proof that social skills can be learned (and I'm still refining them).
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