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Affective Empathy Scale

Do you feel others' joy and pain as if they were your own? Take this test to find out.

Mark Travers, Ph.D.

By Mark Travers, Ph.D.

June 26, 2024

Mark Travers, Ph.D., is the lead psychologist at Awake Therapy, responsible for new client intake and placement. Mark received his B.A. in psychology, magna cum laude, from Cornell University and his M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Colorado Boulder. His academic research has been published in leading psychology journals and has been featured in The New York Times and The New Yorker, among other popular publications. He is a regular contributor for Forbes and Psychology Today, where he writes about psycho-educational topics such as happiness, relationships, personality, and life meaning. Click here to schedule an initial consultation with Mark or another member of the Awake Therapy team. Or, you can drop him a note here.

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Affective empathy is the ability to share and mirror the feelings of others, experiencing their emotions alongside them. It involves a deep emotional connection that allows individuals to resonate with the happiness, sadness or pain of those around them. This type of empathy is fundamental for building strong interpersonal relationships and displaying compassion and understanding in social interactions.

Measuring affective empathy is crucial, as this kind of empathy varies significantly from person to person. Understanding an individual's capacity for affective empathy can provide insights into their emotional intelligence, social behavior, and ability to form meaningful connections. This measurement helps identify those who may struggle with empathy, allowing for targeted interventions and support to enhance their emotional and social functioning.

The Affective Empathy Scale—one dimension of the Cognitive, Affective and Somatic Empathy Scales (CASES)—is a valuable tool for assessing an individual's ability to emotionally connect with others. By providing a standardized measure, the CASES enable researchers and practitioners to quantify empathy levels—helping individuals understand how in touch they are with the emotions of those around them.

You can take this test here. Follow all of the steps to receive your results.

References: Raine, A., Chen, F. R., & Waller, R. (2022). The cognitive, affective and somatic empathy scales for adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 185, 111238.

Step 1: Rate the following statements based on how much you agree with them on a scale of strongly disagree to strongly agree.

1. If I saw my friend being made a fool of, I would feel uncomfortable

2. Watching little puppies playing makes me feel happy

3. Hearing the cheer of a sports crowd gives me a thrill

4. I would feel angry if I saw a man hitting a defenseless woman

5. When I see people in a movie having an adventure, I get excited

6. Seeing people sad at a funeral would make me feel sad too

7. Seeing a man pointing a gun at an unarmed person would make me feel frightened

8. I feel pleased when someone tells me some good news they have just had

9. It makes me feel cheerful to see children running around having fun

10. I would feel worried for a small child being chased by a big dog

0 of 0 questions answered

Step 2: Enter your age, gender, region, and first name so we can provide you with a detailed report that compares your test scores with people similar to you.

What is your age?

What is your gender?

What region of the world do you live in?

What is your first name?

Step 3: Check to make sure you've provided answers to all of the statements/questions above. Once you've done that, click the button below to send your responses to Awake Therapy's Lead Psychologist, Mark Travers, Ph.D. He will provide you with an overview of how you scored relative to others (all answers are anonymized and confidential to protect users' privacy). He can also answer any follow-up questions you may have.