Brief Description
The Empathy Quotient (EQ) is a 60-item self-report measure designed to assess the level of empathy in individuals; note, 20 questions are “filler questions” to help improve accuracy of responses but are not counted towards the total score. Developed by Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues, the EQ consists of a series of statements rated on a four-point Likert scale. Respondents indicate their level of agreement or disagreement with each statement. It is widely used in psychological research and clinical settings to identify empathy deficits, such as those seen in autism spectrum conditions and other psychological disorders. Higher scores on the EQ indicate greater empathy, while lower scores suggest reduced empathic abilities, or, put a different way, increased social-communication difficulties.
Assessment Administration Type
Self-report
Number of questions
60
Age Range for Administration
17+
Recommended Frequency of Administration
No recommended standard frequency; Blueprint recommends every 6 months or as clinically indicated.
Summary of Scoring and Interpretations
Respondents rate each statement on a 4-point Likert scale: "Strongly Agree," "Slightly Agree," "Slightly Disagree," and "Strongly Disagree." Scoring the EQ involves tallying responses to the 40-items on the questionnaire, which are all empathy-relevant statements. The 20 “filler” questions are disregarded.
1. Positive Scoring Items (Questions 1, 6, 19, 22, 25, 26, 35, 36, 37, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 59, 60). For these statements that denote empathy when agreed with, score as follows:
Strongly Agree = 2 points
Slightly Agree = 1 point
Slightly Disagree = 0 points
Strongly Disagree = 0 points
2. Negative Scoring Items (Questions 4, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 18, 21, 27, 28, 29, 32, 34, 39, 46, 48, 49, 50). For these statements that denote empathy when disagreed with, score as follows:
Strongly Agree = 0 points
Slightly Agree = 0 points
Slightly Disagree = 1 point
Strongly Disagree = 2 points
3. Filler Questions (not counted towards total scoring): Questions 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 13, 16, 17, 20, 23, 24, 30, 31, 33, 40, 45, 47, 51, 53, 56.
After scoring each item, the points are summed to obtain the total EQ score. The maximum possible score is 80, with higher scores indicating greater empathy.
Scoring averages:
Most women without an ASD diagnosis score about 47.
Most men without an ASD diagnosis score about 42.
81% of people diagnosed with Autism score 30 or lower.
Blueprint Adjustments
Due to platform scoring capabilities at this time, Blueprint is unable to code two responses with the same value (i.e., Strongly Disagree and Slightly Disagree cannot both be “0”). Thus, Blueprint has coded responses using a 0.1 decimal system. Thus, values 0.1 and 0.2 both equate to a “0” value response and do not impact the total score as they are rounded to the nearest integer before summation. Note, for the filler questions, the response values range from 1-4 and are NOT counted towards the total score. Lastly, Blueprint provides a cutoff score of 30.
Clinical Considerations
Estimated time for completion: 15-20 minutes.
By suggesting that individuals with ASD have low empathy scores, there is a risk of promoting a harmful myth that these individuals have no ability or desire for empathy or connection. This measure might be best explained to patients as a way to score social and communication differences.
Although there is a strong correlation between low scores on the EQ and ASD, the measure cannot be used to predict or diagnose whether a person has ASD.
Citation
Relevant Articles + Further Resources
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