Empathy Test: Compare Your Cognitive and Emotional Empathy Skills
The Empathy Test explores how you understand and share other people's feelings through original prompts informed by the Empathy Quotient. Get an instant cognitive and affective empathy breakdown for self-reflection.
Reviewed by Michael Callans, MSW 
Empathy Test is a free, confidential 18-question self-assessment, informed by the Empathy Quotient (EQ). It takes about 8 minutes, runs entirely in your browser, and gives you a plain-language score across 3 interpretation bands plus an optional in-depth report. It is an educational screening, not a diagnosis.
Empathy is two skills, not one, and this measures both
Empathy includes understanding another person's perspective and responding to their emotions. These aspects can feel different in the same conversation. This Empathy Test explores your self-reported patterns in each area, offering a starting point for reflection rather than a fixed description of how your brain works.
Cognitive empathy
The ability to read and understand what another person is feeling or thinking, sometimes called perspective-taking. It powers good communication, diplomacy, and knowing what to say. Strong cognitive empathy can coexist with feeling emotions less intensely. This screening gauges it across 8 statements, from reading tone of voice to predicting how someone will react.
Affective empathy
The tendency to share or feel another person's emotions, to be moved by their joy or pain. It drives compassion and connection. Very high affective empathy can also tip into overwhelm, which is why balance matters. It is measured here across 10 statements, several reverse-worded so agreement does not always contribute in the same direction.
Your overall profile
How the two combine to shape the way you relate. Rather than a single label, you get a picture of your empathic style, including reverse-scored items to account for statements that describe less emotional responsiveness; reverse scoring cannot verify honesty. Cognitive and affective scores each run 0 to their own maximum, and together they form a total empathy score out of 72.
| Feature | Typical free quiz | Psychology.com |
|---|---|---|
| Informed by a validated scale (the EQ) | Sometimes | Yes |
| Separate cognitive vs affective scores | No | Yes, both shown |
| Reverse-scored items for honesty | Rarely | Yes |
| Non-judgmental, balanced interpretation | No | Throughout |
| Links to related traits (autism, HSP) | No | Yes |
| Optional in-depth personalized report | No | Yes, written to your exact scores |
| Confidential (no data sent) | Often tracked | Runs in your browser |
How scoring works
Answers are scored 0–72 in total. Your result falls into one of 3 bands:
| Score | Band | What it suggests |
|---|---|---|
| 0–28 | Lower empathy | Your answers point to lower empathy on this measure. That is a real and valid way to be wired, with strengths of its own. It is not a flaw. |
| 29–50 | Average empathy | Your answers point to a balanced, average level of empathy. You can understand and feel for others while still keeping your own footing. |
| 51–72 | Higher empathy | Your answers point to higher empathy. You likely connect with others deeply and care a great deal, which is a real gift and worth protecting. |
Empathy, sympathy, and compassion are not the same thing
The Empathy Test explores understanding and sharing feelings, which differ from sympathy and compassion. These three words get used interchangeably, but researchers treat them as distinct. Sympathy is feeling concern or sorrow for someone's situation from the outside, without necessarily sharing the emotion itself, the classic feeling sorry for someone. Empathy, the focus of this test, goes further: you understand or actually feel what the other person feels, whether that is through the cognitive route of accurately reading their state or the affective route of resonating with it emotionally. Compassion adds a third ingredient on top of empathy: the motivation to act, to actually help ease the other person's suffering rather than just registering it.
Knowing which one you are experiencing in a given moment is useful. Sympathy without empathy can feel distant or performative to the person receiving it. Empathy without any compassionate follow-through can leave you absorbing someone's pain without it going anywhere, which is part of why very high affective empathy is linked to burnout. If you regularly feel other people's distress and end up depleted by it, the Compassion Fatigue Test and the Boundaries Test are useful next steps, and the Psychology.com therapist directory can help you find a licensed therapist to work through it with.
How This Empathy Test Is Scored
This screening uses 18 statements split across two measures: 8 items track cognitive empathy and 10 track affective empathy, each answered on a 0 to 4 scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. Several items are worded in reverse, for example statements about staying emotionally detached or missing social cues, so that agreeing with everything does not inflate your score. Cognitive empathy items sum to a maximum of 32, affective empathy items sum to a maximum of 40, and the two together form a total empathy score out of 72.
There is no pass or fail here. The score simply locates where your self-reported style falls on each scale, and comparing the two subtotals in your breakdown usually says more than either number alone. Someone can land in the middle descriptive range overall while being clearly stronger on the thinking side than the feeling side, or the reverse, and either pattern can be a useful starting point for reflection.
The subscales have different maximum totals because they contain different numbers of statements. A larger raw affective total alone does not show that affective empathy is your stronger area. Consider each score relative to its own available range and read the item themes alongside it. Neither subscale provides a population percentile or a measure of how accurately you understand a particular person.
Practical Ways to Build Empathy If You Want To
Empathy is not fixed at one setting. Cognitive empathy tends to grow with deliberate perspective-taking: pausing before responding to ask what the other person might be feeling and why, then checking your guess out loud instead of assuming it is right. Active listening, where you reflect back what you heard before adding your own view, builds the same muscle and is worth practicing in a real conversation rather than only in your head. If you want a structured way to name what you or someone else might be feeling, the Identifying Emotions worksheet is a simple place to start.
Affective empathy usually needs less building and more management. If you already feel others' emotions strongly, the Empath Test and our Highly Sensitive Person test can add useful context on whether that intensity shows up mainly with people or across sound, light, and crowds too. For related self-assessments, the Psychology.com tests hub is a good place to keep exploring.
For a conversation-based practice, ask whether the person wants listening, practical help, or space. Reflect back what you heard and invite them to correct you. You might say that they sound disappointed and ask whether that fits. Their answer matters more than your confidence in reading them, and you can respond respectfully even when you do not share the same feeling.
Methodology & sources
This screening is informed by the Empathy Quotient (EQ), developed and validated by Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright (2004) as a self-report measure of empathy in adults. Drawing on that work, items are grouped into cognitive empathy, the ability to recognize and understand others' mental and emotional states, and affective empathy, the tendency to share and respond to those states emotionally. Items are rated on a 0 to 4 agreement scale, and several are reverse scored so that simply agreeing with everything does not inflate the result. Wording is original and lightly adapted for readability while staying true to the constructs the EQ measures.
This test is provided for education and self-reflection. It is not a diagnosis and empathy is not a disorder; it is a normal human trait that varies widely and shifts with mood, context, and relationships. There is no correct amount. Both lower and higher empathy carry genuine trade-offs, and your score is best read as a starting point for understanding how you connect with others rather than a verdict on your character. If empathy differences are causing you distress in relationships, a therapist can help you work with them.
The original Empathy Quotient that this self-assessment draws on showed strong internal consistency in Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright's validation study. That evidence applies to their published instrument and study population. Davis's earlier Interpersonal Reactivity Index research also treats empathy as multidimensional, with distinctions between perspective-taking, empathic concern, and personal distress. This page uses original statements grouped into cognitive and affective themes for a general audience rather than reproducing the original EQ items verbatim. Its grouping and interpretation bands have not been independently validated, and they should not be treated as the original EQ's scoring system or clinical thresholds.
References
- Baron-Cohen S, Wheelwright S. The Empathy Quotient: an investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. J Autism Dev Disord. 2004;34(2):163-175.
- Davis MH. Measuring individual differences in empathy: evidence for a multidimensional approach. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1983;44(1):113-126.
- Aron EN, Aron A. Sensory-processing sensitivity and its relation to introversion and emotionality. J Pers Soc Psychol. 1997;73(2):345-368.
Cite this source
Psychology.com. (2026, September 16). Empathy Test. Psychology.com. https://psychology.com/tests/empathy
Empathy Test FAQ
What is an empathy test?
It is a short, research-informed screening that estimates how strongly you understand and respond to other people's feelings, separating the thinking side of empathy from the feeling side. This one is informed by the Empathy Quotient. It is a tool for self-understanding, not a diagnosis, and there is no right or wrong score.
Is it bad to have low empathy?
No. Empathy varies naturally across people, and a lower score is not a moral failing. Some people understand emotions easily but feel them less intensely, which can be a real strength in high-pressure or caregiving roles. Empathy can also grow with attention and practice if you want it to.
Can you have too much empathy?
In a sense, yes. Very high affective empathy means you feel others' emotions strongly, which fuels compassion but can also lead to overwhelm, burnout, and difficulty setting boundaries. Many highly empathic people benefit from learning to protect their own energy while staying caring.
How does empathy relate to autism or being highly sensitive?
Empathy varies among autistic people and among people who describe themselves as highly sensitive. Difficulty interpreting an unspoken cue does not establish a lack of caring, and emotional intensity alone cannot identify autism or sensory sensitivity. This self-assessment cannot determine either. Consider your experiences across situations, and seek an appropriate professional assessment if questions about development or daily functioning are important to you.
Is this test a diagnosis?
No. It is for education and self-reflection only. Empathy is a normal trait, not a condition, so there is nothing to diagnose. If empathy differences are causing you difficulty in relationships, a therapist can help you understand and work with them. A low score cannot diagnose autism or a personality disorder, and a high score cannot rule either out.
Is the test really confidential?
Yes. It runs entirely in your browser. Your individual answers are scored in your browser and are never sent to us or linked to you. They stay in this tab so you can return to your result, and closing or clearing the tab clears them. If you ask us to email the PDF, we receive your summary scores with your email address, never your individual answers. No account is needed.
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