Research report 2008 - Max Planck Institute for Human Development
Empathy in Adults with Autism Spectrum Conditions
Authors
Dziobek, Isabel
Departments
Neurokognition der Entscheidungsfindung (Heekeren) (Dr. med. Hauke Heekeren), MPI für Bildungsforschung, Berlin
Summary
Empathy is a multidimensional construct entailing cognitive and emotional components. Despite a paucity of research, individuals on the autism spectrum are generally believed to lack empathy. In a study researchers of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development used a new, photo-based measure, the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET), to assess empathy multidimensionally. Results suggested that while individuals with autism are impaired in cognitive empathy, they do not differ from control persons in emotional empathy.