TEQ

  • The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ)

The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire

(SPRENG +)

Abstract

In order to formulate a parsimonious tool to assess empathy, we used factor analysis on a combination of self-report measures to examine consensus and developed a brief self-report measure of this common factor. The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) represents empathy as a primarily emotional process. In three studies, the TEQ demonstrated strong convergent validity, correlating positively with behavioral measures of social decoding, self-report measures of empathy, and negatively with a measure of Autism symptomatology. Moreover, it exhibited good internal consistency and high test-retest reliability. The TEQ is a brief, reliable, and valid instrument for the assessment of empathy.

Please answer each question as honestly as you can.

  1. When someone else is feeling excited, I tend to get excited too

  2. Other people’s misfortunes do not disturb me a great deal

  3. It upsets me to see someone being treated disrespectfully

  4. I remain unaffected when someone close to me is happy

  5. I enjoy making other people feel better

  6. I have tender, concerned feelings for people less fortunate than me

  7. When a friend starts to talk about his\her problems, I try to steer the conversation towards something else

  8. I can tell when others are sad even when they do not say anything

  9. I find that I am “in tune” with other people’s moods

  10. I do not feel sympathy for people who cause their own serious illnesses

  11. I become irritated when someone cries

  12. I am not really interested in how other people feel

  13. I get a strong urge to help when I see someone who is upset

  14. When I see someone being treated unfairly, I do not feel very much pity for them

  15. I find it silly for people to cry out of happiness

  16. When I see someone being taken advantage of, I feel kind of protective towards him\her

How Empathic Are You?

by Kelly Oakes

How well can you read other people’s feelings?

"In 2009, Spreng, now an assistant professor at Cornell University, and colleagues published something called the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire that measures how empathic someone is, based on their own reflections of their behaviour."