Empathy

I was frustrated at the pseudo-science in 'Men are from Mars; Women are from Venus' so resolved to read a more academic book on the subject. Found 'The Essential Difference' by Simon Baron-Cohen. He discusses and analyses the difference between typically male and typically female brains as the differences, in the main, between empathisers and systematisers. Women tend, with exceptions to empathise; men to systematise. The roots of sexism are in assuming that all men and all women will behave typically.

There are some questionnaires in the book so you can score and assess your own style.

The first questionnaire was about recognising people's feelings from just a photo of their eyes. I scored 28 out of 36 at this, a score that is high in the normal bracket. I am quite good (but not very good) at recognising people's feelings from their eyes. OK so far.

Second test was the Empathy Quotient, to assess how good you are at empathising with other people. The range of scores suggested was:

80 = maximum
64-80 = very high
53-63 = above average
33-52 = average (most women score about 47; most men 42)
0-32 = low (most people with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism score about 20)

I scored 17.

I told Liz who suggested I had become a new sort of super-hero -'Anti-empathy man'. The trouble is that when I hear of danger (this is me taking a funny idea too far) I can't be arsed to do anything about it because I don't care.

Will report back when I have read more.