The Cambridge Sympathy Test: self-reported sympathy and distress in autism

Holt, R., Upadhyay, J., Smith, P., Allison, C., Baron-Cohen, S. and Chakrabarti, B. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6649-7895 (2018) The Cambridge Sympathy Test: self-reported sympathy and distress in autism. PLoS ONE, 13 (7). e0198273. ISSN 1932-6203 doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0198273

Abstract/Summary

Difficulties with aspects of social interaction, including empathy, comprise a core symptom of autism spectrum conditions (autism). Sympathy is a specific form of empathy and involves both cognitive and affective empathy. Data are presented from a new task of self-reported sympathy and personal distress. Participants with autism (93 males; 161 females) and controls (40 males, 93 females) took part in an online survey via the Autism Research Centre or Cambridge Psychology websites. Participants completed a task where they were asked to rate photographic images that were either of distressing, neutral or happy scenes, according to the amount of sympathy they had for the individual in the photo and the degree of personal distress they felt. All participants also completed the Empathy Quotient (EQ). Significant differences were found between the autism and control groups for both self-reported sympathy and personal distress, with participants with autism giving lower ratings than controls. Control females scored significantly higher than control males in both sympathy and distress. Sympathy and distress ratings in the autism group did not differ significantly by sex. EQ showed positive correlations with sympathy and distress scores. Using a new measure of self-reported sympathy, we found that both males and females with autism gave lower ratings of sympathy when viewing people in distressing scenarios, compared to controls.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/78399
Identification Number/DOI	10.1371/journal.pone.0198273
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Interdisciplinary centres and themes > ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorders) Research Network Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Department of Psychology Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Neuroscience Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IDRCs) > Centre for Cognition Research (CCR) Life Sciences > School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences > Psychopathology and Affective Neuroscience
Publisher	Public Library of Science
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