Who cares? Revisiting empathy in Asperger syndrome

Kimberley Rogers; Isabel Dziobek; Jason Hassenstab; Oliver T. Wolf; Antonio Convit

doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0197-8

Who cares? Revisiting empathy in Asperger syndrome

Kimberley Rogers
, Isabel Dziobek
, Jason Hassenstab
, Oliver T. Wolf
, Antonio Convit

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

309 Scopus citations

Abstract

A deficit in empathy has consistently been cited as a central characteristic of Asperger syndrome (AS), but previous research on adults has predominantly focused on cognitive empathy, effectively ignoring the role of affective empathy. We administered the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a multi-dimensional measure of empathy, and the Strange Stories test to 21 adults with AS and 21 matched controls. Our data show that while the AS group scored lower on the measures of cognitive empathy and theory of mind, they were no different from controls on one affective empathy scale of the IRI (empathic concern), and scored higher than controls on the other (personal distress). Therefore, we propose that the issue of empathy in AS should be revisited.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	709-715
Number of pages	7
Journal	Journal of autism and developmental disorders
Volume	37
Issue number	4
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0197-8
State	Published - Apr 2007

Keywords

Asperger syndrome
Autism
Empathy
Social cognition
Theory of mind

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10.1007/s10803-006-0197-8

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title = "Who cares? Revisiting empathy in Asperger syndrome",

abstract = "A deficit in empathy has consistently been cited as a central characteristic of Asperger syndrome (AS), but previous research on adults has predominantly focused on cognitive empathy, effectively ignoring the role of affective empathy. We administered the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a multi-dimensional measure of empathy, and the Strange Stories test to 21 adults with AS and 21 matched controls. Our data show that while the AS group scored lower on the measures of cognitive empathy and theory of mind, they were no different from controls on one affective empathy scale of the IRI (empathic concern), and scored higher than controls on the other (personal distress). Therefore, we propose that the issue of empathy in AS should be revisited.",

keywords = "Asperger syndrome, Autism, Empathy, Social cognition, Theory of mind",

author = "Kimberley Rogers and Isabel Dziobek and Jason Hassenstab and Wolf, \{Oliver T.\} and Antonio Convit",

note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgments Kimberley Rogers is now at the Department of Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, NY. Isabel Dziobek is now at the Max-Planck Institute for Human Development, Neurocognition of Decision Making, Berlin, Germany. Oliver T. Wolf is now at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany. Jason Hassenstab is now at the Department of Psychology at Fordham University. This research was funded by a grant from the National Alliance for Autism Research to Dr. Convit. Isabel Dziobek was in part supported by a training grant by the Cusanuswerk, Germany.",

year = "2007",

month = apr,

doi = "10.1007/s10803-006-0197-8",

language = "English",

volume = "37",

pages = "709--715",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Who cares? Revisiting empathy in Asperger syndrome

AU - Rogers, Kimberley

AU - Dziobek, Isabel

AU - Hassenstab, Jason

AU - Wolf, Oliver T.

AU - Convit, Antonio

N1 - Funding Information: Acknowledgments Kimberley Rogers is now at the Department of Psychology at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, NY. Isabel Dziobek is now at the Max-Planck Institute for Human Development, Neurocognition of Decision Making, Berlin, Germany. Oliver T. Wolf is now at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany. Jason Hassenstab is now at the Department of Psychology at Fordham University. This research was funded by a grant from the National Alliance for Autism Research to Dr. Convit. Isabel Dziobek was in part supported by a training grant by the Cusanuswerk, Germany.

PY - 2007/4

Y1 - 2007/4

N2 - A deficit in empathy has consistently been cited as a central characteristic of Asperger syndrome (AS), but previous research on adults has predominantly focused on cognitive empathy, effectively ignoring the role of affective empathy. We administered the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a multi-dimensional measure of empathy, and the Strange Stories test to 21 adults with AS and 21 matched controls. Our data show that while the AS group scored lower on the measures of cognitive empathy and theory of mind, they were no different from controls on one affective empathy scale of the IRI (empathic concern), and scored higher than controls on the other (personal distress). Therefore, we propose that the issue of empathy in AS should be revisited.

AB - A deficit in empathy has consistently been cited as a central characteristic of Asperger syndrome (AS), but previous research on adults has predominantly focused on cognitive empathy, effectively ignoring the role of affective empathy. We administered the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), a multi-dimensional measure of empathy, and the Strange Stories test to 21 adults with AS and 21 matched controls. Our data show that while the AS group scored lower on the measures of cognitive empathy and theory of mind, they were no different from controls on one affective empathy scale of the IRI (empathic concern), and scored higher than controls on the other (personal distress). Therefore, we propose that the issue of empathy in AS should be revisited.

KW - Asperger syndrome

KW - Autism

KW - Empathy

KW - Social cognition

KW - Theory of mind

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/34147185199

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DO - 10.1007/s10803-006-0197-8

M3 - Article

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AN - SCOPUS:34147185199

SN - 0162-3257

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SP - 709

EP - 715

JO - Journal of autism and developmental disorders

JF - Journal of autism and developmental disorders

IS - 4

ER -

Who cares? Revisiting empathy in Asperger syndrome

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