Location
Caruso, D. R., & Mayer, J. D. (1998). A measure of emotional empathy for adolescents and adults . Unpublished
Manuscript. Available online at:
www.google.com.au/url?sa 5t&rct5j&q5&esrc5s&source 5web&cd 51&ved50CCkQFjAA&url 5http%3A%
2%2Fwww.unh.edu%2Femotional_intel ligence%2FEI%2520Assets%2FEma pthy%2520Scale%2FEmpathy%2520
Article%25202000.doc&ei 510G-UsL9GK-0iQea3IDIDA&usg 5AFQjCNHbIUirDCZr0fhyG3vTMsCfjecUYw&bvm 5
bv.58187178,d.dGI (Retrieved December 28, 2013).
Results and Comments
The MDEES aims to measure different components of affective empathy. However, Caruso and Mayer (1998)
cautioned against using the Emotional Contagion subscale given that it contains only two items. In addition,
Olckers et al. (2010) carried out a CFA that was unable to verify the purported MDEES structure. Test /C0retest reli-
ability of the MDEES also remains to be determined.
MDEES SAMPLE ITEMS
Circle the response which best indicates how much
you agree or disagree with each item.
The suffering of others deeply disturbs me.
I rarely take notice when other people treat each
other warmly.
Being around happy people makes me feel
happy, too.I feel like crying when watching a sad movie.
Too much is made of the suffering of pets or animals.
I feel others’ pain.
My feelings are my own and don’t reflect how
others feel.
Note: Items are rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale rang-
ing from 1 5‘Strongly disagree ’t o55‘Strongly agree ’.
Empathy Quotient (EQ)
(Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004 ).
Variable
Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright (2004) defined empathy as, ‘the drive to identify another person’s emotions and
thoughts, and to respond to these with an appropriate emotion’ (p. 361). In line with this definition, the EQ was
designed to be a short, easy to use scale that measures both cognitive and affective components of empathy.
Description
The 60-item EQ comprises 40 empathy items and 20 filler/control items. Respondents score one a 4-point
forced-choice scale from ‘strongly agree’, ‘agree slightly’, ‘disagree slightly’ and ‘disagree strongly’ with higher
scores reflecting higher empathic capacity. The EQ contains 20-control items, included to provide some distrac-
tion to minimize the ‘relentless focus on empathy’ while responding to the EQ measure ( Baron-Cohen &
Wheelwright, 2004 , p. 166). The control items can be used to check for response bias. Furthermore, approximately
half the items in the EQ are reverse worded, although reverse-worded items tend to measure a somewhat differ-
ent construct (Boyle et al., 2008).
Sample
Initial pilot testing of the EQ was undertaken on a small sample of 20 normal individuals ( Baron-Cohen &
Wheelwright, 2004 ). Subsequent validation samples included 90 adults with Asperger syndrome or high-
functioning autism who were compared on the EQ with 90 age-matched controls, and 197 adults from the general
population (71 males whose mean age was 38.8 years; and 136 females whose mean age was 39.5 years) ( Baron-
Cohen & Wheelwright, 2004 ).262 10. MEASURES OF EMPATHY: SELF-REPORT , BEHAVIORAL, AND NEUROSCIENTIFIC APPROACHES
III. EMOTION REGULATION