2025-12-23

Jodie's Empathy Measurement Project

• a measurement for Rational Empathy - 

  • • A Self Assessment measurement with 40? questions

    • I don't like the term rational since it keep the emotional-rational dichotomy going

    • What would be an alternative

    • Jodie's sees it as response to the Rational Compassion term

    • Self Assessment tests are said to be inaccurate

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While self-assessment tests like the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) or the Empathy Quotient (EQ) are widely used because they are cheap and easy to administer, they are increasingly criticized by psychologists for being inaccurate.

The core problem is the "Empathy-Accuracy Gap." Research consistently shows a near-zero correlation (often around 0.01 to 0.12) between how empathetic a person says they are and how accurately they can actually read the emotions of others in behavioral tests.

Here is why self-assessment tests for empathy are considered ineffective:

1. Social Desirability Bias (The "Nice Person" Effect)

This is the single biggest hurdle. Empathy is universally viewed as a positive, virtuous trait. When people take these tests, they are subconsciously motivated to select answers that make them look like "good" people.

• The Problem: On a scale of 1–5, very few people will admit to a "1" on a question like "Does seeing others cry disturb you?"

• The Result: Scores are artificially inflated across the board, making it hard to distinguish between someone who is empathetic and someone who just wants to be seen as empathetic.
  
  

2. The Dunning-Kruger Effect (Introspective Blindness)

People with low empathy often lack the self-awareness required to realize they are low in empathy.

• The Problem: To know that you missed a subtle emotional cue, you have to have enough empathy to notice you missed it. If you are "blind" to social cues, you likely believe you are navigating the world perfectly well.

• The Result: People with low empathy frequently rate themselves as having high empathy because they simply don't know what they are missing.
  
  

3. Measuring "Perceived" vs. "Actual" Ability

Self-assessments measure your self-concept (who you think you are), not your ability (what you can do).

• Cognitive Empathy: This is the ability to intellectually understand what someone is feeling. On a test, you might say, "I am good at reading people." However, in a lab setting where you have to identify emotions from video clips (behavioral testing), you might score poorly.

• The Disconnect: You are grading yourself on your intentions ("I care about people") rather than your accuracy ("I correctly identified that this person was anxious, not angry").
  
  

4. Conflating "Sympathy" with "Empathy"

Many self-assessment questions actually measure sympathy (feeling for someone) or personal distress (feeling upset by someone) rather than true empathy (feeling with someone).

• Example Question: "I often feel overwhelmed when I see someone hurt."

• The Issue: A high score here might mean you have poor emotional regulation (you panic when others are sad) rather than high empathy. You might be so focused on your own distress that you cannot effectively help the other person.
  
  

5. Contextual Variability

Self-reports treat empathy as a fixed "trait" (like height or eye color), but empathy is actually a "state" that fluctuates based on context.

• In-Group Bias: You might be highly empathetic toward your family (giving yourself a high score) but have zero empathy for political rivals or strangers (which the test doesn't capture).

• The Result: A generalized score fails to predict how you will act in specific, real-world situations.
  
  

Better Alternatives: Behavioral Measures

To get an accurate measurement, researchers prefer performance-based measures that don't rely on the user's opinion of themselves:

• The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test: Participants look at photos of only the eye region of a face and must select the correct emotion.

• Empathic Accuracy Tasks: Participants watch a video of a conversation and must pause it to identify exactly what the person on screen was feeling at that specific moment. Their answers are compared to what the person in the video reported actually feeling.

Next Step

Would you like me to walk you through a few sample questions from the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" test to see how a behavioral assessment feels different from a questionnaire?

1. Communications

   1. 1. Alison  - 

      2. Kevin Waldman - https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-waldman-131a5a18b/ 

      3. Ben Rein https://www.benrein.com  - 

2. What is the scope of the Study if it is a PhD study?

   1. 1. Can there be multiple researchers? or does it need to be a solo project

      2. Can there be multiple research centers at other universities doing the study simultaneously?

3. Using AI

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Carl Rogers said that people may not want to take part in empathic listening, or active listening or empathy because they are afraid of changing their mind. Can you find where Rogers talked about that? 

Carl Rogers discusses this concept in his paper "Communication: Its Blocking and Its Facilitation," which was originally delivered as a talk in 1951 and later published as Chapter 17 in his famous 1961 book, On Becoming a Person.

In this text, Rogers argues that the major barrier to interpersonal communication is our natural tendency to judge or evaluate what others say rather than understanding it. He explains that true empathic listening requires us to suspend our own judgments and see the world through the speaker's eyes. This, he notes, is terrifying for many because it opens the door to the possibility that our own views might be altered.

The specific passage you are referring to is:

"If you really understand another person in this way, if you are willing to enter his private world and see the way life appears to him, without any attempt to make evaluative judgments, you run the risk of being changed yourself. You might see it his way, you might find yourself influenced in your attitudes or your personality. This risk of being changed is one of the most frightening prospects most of us can face."

Rogers suggests that because this prospect is so frightening, most people compulsively evaluate and judge others to protect their own organized view of the world, rather than listening with real understanding.

... Carl Rogers on Empathic Listening ...

This video features Carl Rogers himself explaining the concept of empathic listening and the profound difficulty and courage required to listen without judgment.

Carl Rogers on Empathic Listening - YouTube

Benefits of doing an Empathy Circle Study of Bridging Polarization

1. there is a need due to what is going on in the country

2. there would probably be support for the study, from the bridging 

3. because it is such a real problem, there would be media attention with the outcome.

4. builds support for the Empathy Circle practice.

5. how people hold on to their values can be part of this study.

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