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    Are women natural empaths? This Cambridge study suggests that women do excel in putting themselves in other’s shoes

    Synopsis

    Women, irrespective of culture, language, and class, excel at empathising with others compared to men.

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    Are women natural empaths? This Cambridge study suggests that women do excel in putting themselves in other’s shoes
    Pack it up, boys, the University of Cambridge just confirmed what we have suspected all along:

    Women, irrespective of culture, language, and class, excel at empathising with others compared to men.

    The study was led by a group of researchers based at the University of Cambridge, UK found out that women on average score higher than their male counterparts on the widely used ‘Reading the Mind In The Eyes’ test. The test examines cognitive empathy. The test was conducted on more than 300,000 people in 57 countries.

    Dr. David M. Greenberg, the lead scientist on the study, a Zuckerman Scholar at Bar-Ilan and Honorary Research Associate at Cambridge, said “Our results provide some of the first evidence that the well-known phenomenon-that females are on average more empathic than males—is present in a wide range of countries across the globe. It’s only by using very large data sets that we can say this with confidence.”

    About The Mind In The Eyes Test

    First developed in 1997, by Professor Sir Simon-Baron Cohen, this evaluation tool become a trusted assessment of the theory of mind. The test requires participants to examine photographs of the area around the person’s eyes and interpret the meaning of expressions. Participants have to choose the correct answer from a set of options.

    However this doesn’t exactly mean that your gender, determines your attitude and values. Cohen who is also the Director of the Autism Research Centre at Cambridge University, and senior author of the study explained that sex-differences do not, necessarily determine an individual’s attitude or aptitude as exceptions always exist. More than anything, the Eyes Test reveals that many people struggle to read facial expressions.

    What Is Cognitive Empathy?

    Cognitive empathy is the intellectual ability to ‘read’ others’ emotions. It can be described as ‘empathic accuracy’. People with higher levels of cognitive empathy tend to be better at communication and have better people skills as they are able to take educated guesses at how another person is feeling or how they may react emotionally to something.

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