Tuesday, January 03, 2012

Empathy quotient

[Thanks to Norm]
Empathy quotient test.

em·pa·thy [em-puh-thee]  
noun
1.
the intellectual identification with or vicarious experiencing of the feelings, thoughts, or attitudes of another.

11 comments:

Mikhail P said...

So what did you get, Eolake? I got 26. I tend to think we have somewhat similar personalities, so it would be interesting to hear.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

I got 60. "Above average".

TC [Girl] said...

OK...now, I am totally surprised 'cuz...you got MORE than me!! (What?! How could that be?!) I got 34!!!!

Are ya sure you're not just pulling our leg w/a number you pulled out of your head, Eo?! ;0)

Seth Armstrong said...

I got 21.

A. Nonymous said...

I got 3.

Anonymous said...

I got 3.

Gongrats, you're a psychopath! ;-)

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Beats me.

I do know I tend to suppress my empathy, because it's really damn impractical. Not to say unpleasant in a world like this.

Another thing is, I used to work in a company doing personality testing, and I think that such tests require trained enterpretation really, because they often show us more as how we see ourselves or wish to, than how we really are. And it's hard to know when what is what, but some tests have 'tricky' questions built in to clarify it.

Anonymous said...

Many of the questions were ones other people would be better able to answer about us. Even if you try your hardest to be honest and objective you probably can't be really.

Not only does it require expert interpretation, but probably a lot more questions too.

TC [Girl] said...

Eolake said...
I do know I tend to suppress my empathy, because it's really damn impractical.

True dat. Empathy and compassion BUT...very important in many circumstances.

Not to say unpleasant in a world like this.

I've been reading (location 2809 of 4162! Chapter 10. Now's when I'm wishing for a page number reference! lol!) about how we make it as such (or not! Cool! Lookit what I just found! :-) if that is how we view it.

Another thing is, I used to work in a company doing personality testing, and I think that such tests require trained enterpretation really,

because they often show us more as how we see ourselves or wish to, than how we really are.


I think you're right about that! I tried to be really objective about it and...I still wasn't even quite sure which way to go on many!

And it's hard to know when what is what, but some tests have 'tricky' questions built in to clarify it.

Right; asked it several ways, to see if there's a "solid direction" in any of the examples but...it seems that life is much more complicated than that and can't be compartmentalized like that. Each set of circumstances requires a different response, of course, no matter how similar the function/occurrence is.

Anonymous said...
Many of the questions were ones other people would be better able to answer about us. Even if you try your hardest to be honest and objective you probably can't be really.

I think another person's view of us would be more subjective according to how well they knew us; and, really, who knows us better than ourselves...and that's even a challenge, often! :-/

Not only does it require expert interpretation, but probably a lot more questions too.

Perhaps but...as mentioned, above, each situation requires a different response, so...I think the questions could go to infinity and we probably still wouldn't be able to, accurately, pin down a definite level; so...coming 'round full circle to wonder, really, how accurate these "tests" are! I get impatient with them 'cuz it does feel as though each one is trying to steer you in a certain direction; and...life just ain't that cut and dry! :-)

Anonymous said...

I think another person's view of us would be more subjective according to how well they knew us; and, really, who knows us better than ourselves...and that's even a challenge, often! :-/

There are only a few where it would apply, like this one: "People often tell me that I went too far in driving my point home in a discussion." If you do that a lot you might not notice it but other people would. They could definitely be more objective about something like that.

I get impatient with them 'cuz it does feel as though each one is trying to steer you in a certain direction; and...life just ain't that cut and dry! :-)

This is where more questions would help. They wouldn't have that feeling to them because there would be more. This test, due to length, needs questions that are a bit more on the nose. You can tell how you would answer them depending on the diagnosis you want. If you see yourself as "above average" going in, as Eolake did (he admitted to being someone who is so empathetic that he has to consciously tone it down), you answer the questions in a way that will get that result for you.

Anonymous said...

Eolake lied about his score. Someone so self-centred couldn't possibly have any empathy. He definitely lied.