Research in 57 countries: on average, women better assess the emotions of others

About the episode

Cognitive empathy, or “theory of mind,” is the ability to recognize the emotions of others and assess their point of view. A test that is often done to determine how well someone can do this is the Eye test. Subjects only see pictures of people’s eyes and then have to choose a word that best describes what the person in the picture is thinking or feeling.

This research has been done before, including among larger groups, but now Cambridge University researchers have really taken matters into their own hands. More than 300,000 people from 57 different countries took part in their study. For the first time, a large number of different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds were included, as well as a large age difference. These varied between 16 and 70 years.

The research is part of a larger research into why some people find it so difficult to gauge other people’s feelings and the link to autism, for example. What emerged from the research was, among other things, this: women seem to perform much better on the test on average. This has been seen before and fits with the idea that women are more empathetic, but it has never been shown in such a large study.

The difference applies to many countries (namely 36) and was found in all age groups. In some countries, men and women had equal mean scores, but in no country did men have higher scores on average.

And yes: one could say: why the comparison between men and women? Is it still from that time? And what does that say about an individual? But understanding what biological and environmental factors play a role in whether or not you are able to sense others — and demonstrating with certainty that these factors have an influence — remains important for helping and understanding people with social disorders.

Read more: Women score higher on average than men on ‘theory of mind’ test in 57 countries.