Hi,
     Has anyone else done the Baron Cohen tests from the Essential Difference? They are online at http://glennrowe.net/BaronCohen/MaleFemale.asp
I did them a while ago and got results that I found a little puzzling, and wondered if anyone else had had similar results.
My results were as follows
Empathy Quotient - 5 out of 80
Systemising Quotient - 47 out of 60
Autistic Spectrum Quotient - 41 out of 50
Mind in the Eyes Test - 27 out of 36
It was the Mind in eyes that puzzled me a little as my score was normal even though I'm as empathic as a brick. I tend to have no problem  with facial expression, its verbal that I pick up badly, so I guess I should be unsurprised. Anyone else had similar results? Am I merely a Sociopath rahter than AS :lol:
Richard

You have one of the lowest empathy scores I have ever seen, you have fairly typical aspie scores apart from that. More aspies seem to score in the teens for empathy.

I redid the empathy test and tried to think as empathically as possible, I scored 9 out of 80. Its odd as I've been getting counselling for a while and my counsellor says I do have a fair degree of empathy. The low score may be something to do with the phrasing of the questions though as I find I'm empathic with my wife and kids but dont extend it further than that as it seems like a lot of effort for little reward.

I think this may be a problem in many tests - we each have a unique variety of "literalness", which combined with the environmental factors (such as anxiousness due to environment and general dislike of a 'testing' situation) may cause variable test results.

Personally I have never been able to fathom I.Q. tests, despite being highly intelligent and holding a 'boffin-level' professional job.

I'm female and here are my scores:

Empathy Quotient - 7 (typical for women is around 42)
Systemising Quotient - 69 (typical for women is around 24)
Autistic Spectrum Quotient - 47
Mind in the Eyes Test - 5

On the EQ test I got 26, on the SQ I got 22.
Appearantly, that score on the SQ is abnormal for anyone, aspie or NT, so I'm not entirely sure what's going on there.
Most likely it was bad choice of questions.  Most of the things they asked about- machines, tools, ect- I'm not interested in.  But things relating to the natural world?  I' interested in those, so yes, I'm interested in how they work, in catagorizing them, ect.
If I retook this test I might score higher.

Mind In the Eyes test I scored 31, just above the normal range.  This seems to foloow a pattern for me, that I've intelectually learned how to decode facial expressions as a sort of 'defense mechanism', if you will.  I'm not sure if my anylitical aproach to answering the questions in that test was the same an NT would have used; I think they generally go with a 'feeling'.

I scored 34 on the ASQ.

Empathy Quotient -8
Systemising Quotient - 60
Autistic Spectrum Quotient - 44
Mind in the Eyes Test 22

was shocked at the last one; didn't think I'd do that well. A lot of them though didn't have the option I wanted to give so I had to pick from the options given. I know I don't spend enough time looking at peoples faces so perhaps I should start and it would help me with the social stuff: most of the time I've no idea what's going on.

I was curious how I would do, since I consider myself more NT than not, albeit with a few Aspie traits.

So ..

Empathy 43 (in the average range)
Systemizing 9 (well below average and opposite of Aspie)
Spectrum 11 (average, not Aspie, although it's worth noting that I would have answered a lot differently 25 years ago)
Mind in Eyes 20 (just out of average range - without the rest of the face and not knowing those people it is really confusing to me - I use a whole combination of clues, and I definitely read into eyes, but I read things like sparkle that aren't in BW photos, so this is a way I'm more Aspie I guess)

Richard - perhaps you are more aware of the details involved in the expressions and that has helped you to read them.  Perhaps you've learned key things to look for, in a more systematic and intellectual way.  To me, just seeing eyes in BW is insanely unreal, I don't know what to look for, since I'm not used to thinking about it, and my first reaction often was not on the list.  Give me a face with motion and color and I feel comfortable I could read it - but these photos, drive me nuts.

Or, maybe, I'm a lot less socially adept than I think I am!

This post was last modified: 08-14-2006 09:16 PM by DW_a_mom.

Autism Spectrum quotient: 43

Systemizing: 46

Empathy: 14

Reading the mind in the eyes: 23

Systemizing: 72 (Very high, likely for an Aspie)

Empathy: 14 (Likely for an Aspie)

AS: 36 (Idem dito)

Mind in the eyes: 25 (average)

This post was last modified: 08-15-2006 12:18 AM by Ultra Magnus.

I've ordered the book to find out more about what the "Eyes" test is supposed to show, as many of you seem to have "normal" scores.


Like DW_A_Mom I found with the eyes that my instinctive answer wasnt always a choice - maybe thats part of the test though?

One thing that may have helped me score strongly with that is having a Mum who spent her whole time pulling faces at me, shes very facially expressive and spent loads of time with me when I was small, I think she thought I was gifted as I was talking when I was very young. My Dad actually called me rubberface when I was a kid as I ended up pulling faces all the time too, but they were mostly horrible ones.

Thanks for the interesting replies, hopefully the book will come this week.

I agree about the eyes test,  usually I didn't find a choice in which I felt it resembled. Odd.

I've noticed, from other Aspies taking the Eyes Test, that it's not a very reliable indicator of being able to read nonverbal cues other than somebody who has 0 capability in this area. Most Aspies have a ranging ability to read nonverbal cues. For most of us, it's definitely an ability which falls below the average range, but we do have some ability to read cues when we pay attention to them.

We also have the gift of logic, and creating a multiple choice test in which the person might have difficulty naming the exact emotion but has a general idea of at least \"good/happy emotion\" and \"upset/angered/bad emotion\", the test is fairly easy to score within the average range or even above average.

My scores:

AQ: usually between 46-48
EQ: last scored 9
SQ: last scored 58
Eye Test: 31 (but I rarely actually look at peoples' eyes, so...)

Btw, did anybody recognize the eyes of GW Bush (#13), Keanu Reeves(#23), and Paul Newman(#36)?

Empathy 4
Systematizing 66
AS 40
Eyes 13

The eyes test was HARD to do. I suffered and agonized through it. Most of the questions didn't have answers that seemed anywhere near what I thought the expressions were.

:shock:

I am a woman...so that makes my scores even stranger. I should change my name to Super Aspie.