Today's Saturday • 5 mins read
Empathy is a critical ability for building and sustaining strong relationships. Those with low empathy find it challenging to understand and connect with the emotions of others.
Surprisingly, empathy has a direct link to emotional intelligence (EI). People with high EI are typically highly empathetic. And those with low EI often have low levels of empathy.
So, take this quiz to find out how empathic you are.
How Empathic Are You: A Quick Check!
Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of others. This short, informal quiz invites you to reflect on your own tendencies related to empathy. Answer honestly for personal insight!
Your Empathy Score: /50
Interpretation: A *higher score* suggests a greater tendency towards lower empathetic traits, while a *lower score* indicates stronger empathetic tendencies.
- Score 10-20: Your responses suggest you generally have strong empathetic tendencies, easily connecting with and understanding others’ emotions.
- Score 21-35: Your responses indicate a moderate level of empathy. Like many people, you might experience a mix of empathetic strengths and areas where you are less tuned into others’ emotions.
- Score 36-50: Your responses suggest a higher tendency towards lower empathetic traits. This means you might find it more challenging to connect with or understand others’ feelings.
This quiz is for self-reflection and personal interest only, and is **not a substitute for professional psychological assessment or advice.** Empathy is a complex human trait that varies among individuals. If you have any concerns about your ability to connect with others, or if you feel that your empathetic responses are significantly impacting your relationships or well-being, please consider consulting with a qualified mental health professional (such as a therapist or counselor). They can provide a comprehensive evaluation and support tailored to your individual needs.
Signs of Low Empathy
- Critical and Judgmental Behavior: Low-empathy people can criticize others for expressing sadness and related feelings. They can respond harshly when others are going through hard times. They can even blame the person for their situation. And can walk away, showing little interest in understanding their point of view.
- Difficulty Understanding Others' Situations: They find it difficult to relate to what others are going through. One, they think that certain problems could never happen to them. Or two, they believe they would handle similar situations much better. They cannot imagine the situation from the sufferer's point.
- Dismissing Emotions as Overly Sensitive: They often downplay and even invalidate other people's emotional reactions. They see these feelings as excessive or unnecessary. Their default response often makes the other person feel discredited or ignored.
- Inappropriate Responses: They can respond to someone’s emotional expression with jokes or a lack of concern. Low-empathy people cannot listen actively, so much so that sharing your experiences with them may feel like a waste of your time and emotions.
- Unawareness of Impact on Others: They often don’t realize how their actions affect those around them. Even if they do understand, they may not feel sorry or take responsibility for the consequences of their behavior.
- Struggles with Meaningful Relationships: Low empathy can lead to unsolved issues in relationships. It gets hard to build deep connections with someone who can’t understand or support your feelings. As a result, they may end up with few or no close relationships.
Causes of Low Empathy
Low empathy, whether temporary or long-lasting, can stem from both biological and environmental factors.
- Genetic Factors: This study found empathy is influenced not only by upbringing and experiences but also by genetic factors. Researchers analyzed data from over 46,000 participants who completed the Empathy Quotient (EQ) and provided genetic samples. They found that nearly 10% of the variation in empathy can be attributed to genetics. Moreover, the study found that genetic variants associated with lower empathy are linked to a higher risk of autism.
- Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD): Individuals with BPD may struggle with emotional empathy but can show some cognitive empathy. This means they might understand others' feelings on an intellectual level but find it hard to connect emotionally.
- Narcissism and Machiavellianism: Studies suggest that people with narcissistic traits or Machiavellian tendencies may have some capacity for empathy but lack the motivation to express it or act on it. This can lead to a disconnect between understanding and responding to others' feelings.
- Autism and Alexithymia: Many autistic individuals face challenges with cognitive empathy, which involves understanding others' perspectives. However, they often experience emotional empathy. Difficulties in expressing empathy can arise from alexithymia, a condition that affects emotional awareness, rather than being directly linked to autism itself.
- Environmental Influences: Since empathy is also a learned behavior, individuals who grew up in environments where empathy was lacking—such as those who spent a lot of time in isolation or did not have opportunities to practice empathetic interactions—may find it hard to empathize with others as adults.
Final Words
Women tend to be more empathetic than men.
One reason is social conditioning. Girls across cultures are encouraged from a young age to express their emotions, be more attuned to the emotions of others, and care for others. This nurturing behavior is reinforced through family dynamics, educational settings, and media portrayals.
Moreover, women have higher levels of oxytocin, the “bonding hormone,” which imparts them with more nurturing behaviors and emotional connections.
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√ Also Read: 15 Proven Tips To Increase Your Empathy
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