Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Empathizing-Systemizing Theory: Past, Present, and Future

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences

Definition

The empathizing-systemizing (E-S) theory (Baron-Cohen 2003, 2009) proposes an account of two important dimensions of individual differences in cognition which has proved useful in explaining psychological sex differences in human cognition and has helped to explain the clinical condition of autism. Recent evidence suggests that E-S brain types are not just a useful psychological description but that these also have a biological basis and can explain individual differences in everyday human behavior.

Empathy is the ability to understand and predict what another person is thinking and feeling and to respond to another person’s mental state with an appropriate emotion (Baron-Cohen and Wheelwright 2004). The cognitive component of empathy is the ability to imagine or recognize another’s mental state and to put yourself in another person’s shoes (also referred to as “theory of mind” or mentalizing), while the affective component of empathy is the emotional reaction a person has...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Allison, C., Baron-Cohen, S., Stone, M. H., & Muncer, S. J. (2015). Rasch modeling and confirmatory factor analysis of the systemizing quotient-revised (SQ-R) scale. The Spanish Journal of Psychology, 18, E16.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Auyeung, B., Baron-Cohen, S., Chapman, E., Knickmeyer, R., Taylor, K., & Hackett, G. (2006). Foetal testosterone and the child systemizing quotient. European Journal of Endocrinology, 155(suppl 1), S123–S130.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Auyeung, B., Baron-Cohen, S., Ashwin, E., Knickmeyer, R., Taylor, K., & Hackett, G. (2009). Fetal testosterone and autistic traits. British Journal of Psychology, 100(1), 1–22.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (2003). Essential difference: Men, women, and the extreme male brain. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (2009). Autism: The empathizing–systemizing (E-S) theory. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1156(1), 68–80.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S. (2011). Zero degrees of empathy: A new theory of human cruelty. London: Allen Lane.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2004). The empathy quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34(2), 163–175.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001a). The “Reading the Mind in the Eyes” test revised version: A study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 42(2), 241–251.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Skinner, R., Martin, J., & Clubley, E. (2001b). The autism-spectrum quotient (AQ): Evidence from asperger syndrome/high-functioning autism, males and females, scientists and mathematicians. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(1), 5–17.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Richler, J., Bisarya, D., Gurunathan, N., & Wheelwright, S. (2003). The systemizing quotient: An investigation of adults with Asperger syndrome or high–functioning autism, and normal sex differences. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 358(1430), 361–374.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Ashwin, E., Ashwin, C., Tavassoli, T., & Chakrabarti, B. (2009). Talent in autism: Hyper-systemizing, hyper-attention to detail and sensory hypersensitivity. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, 364(1522), 1377–1383.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Cassidy, S., Auyeung, B., Allison, C., Achoukhi, M., Robertson, S., …, & Lai, M. C. (2014). Attenuation of typical sex differences in 800 adults with autism vs. 3,900 controls. PloS One, 9(7), e102251.

    Google Scholar 

  • Baron-Cohen, S., Auyeung, B., Nørgaard-Pedersen, B., Hougaard, D. M., Abdallah, M. W., Melgaard, L., …, & Lombardo, M. V. (2015). Elevated fetal steroidogenic activity in autism. Molecular Psychiatry, 20(3), 369–376.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billington, J., Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2007). Cognitive style predicts entry into physical sciences and humanities: Questionnaire and performance tests of empathy and systemizing. Learning and Individual Differences, 17(3), 260–268.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brosnan, M., Ashwin, C., Walker, I., & Donaghue, J. (2010). Can an ‘Extreme Female Brain’ be characterised in terms of psychosis? Personality and Individual Differences, 49(7), 738–742.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman, E., Baron-Cohen, S., Auyeung, B., Knickmeyer, R., Taylor, K., & Hackett, G. (2006). Fetal testosterone and empathy: Evidence from the empathy quotient (EQ) and the “reading the mind in the eyes” test. Social Neuroscience, 1(2), 135–148.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dziobek, I., Rogers, K., Fleck, S., Bahnemann, M., Heekeren, H. R., Wolf, O. T., & Convit, A. (2008). Dissociation of cognitive and emotional empathy in adults with Asperger syndrome using the Multifaceted Empathy Test (MET). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38(3), 464–473.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldenfeld, N., Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2005). Empathizing and systemizing in males, females and autism. Clinical Neuropsychiatry, 2(6), 338–345.

    Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D. M., Baron-Cohen, S., Stillwell, D. J., Kosinski, M., & Rentfrow, P. J. (2015a). Musical preferences are linked to cognitive styles. PloS One, 10(7), e013115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Greenberg, D. M., Rentfrow, P. J., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2015b). Can music increase empathy? Interpreting musical experience through the Empathizing-Systemizing (E-S) theory: Implications for autism. Empirical Musicology Review, 10(1), 79–94.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hambrook, D., Tchanturia, K., Schmidt, U., Russell, T., & Treasure, J. (2008). Empathy, systemizing, and autistic traits in anorexia nervosa: A pilot study. British Journal of Clinical Psychology, 47(3), 335–339.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Knickmeyer, R., Baron-Cohen, S., Raggatt, P., & Taylor, K. (2005). Foetal testosterone, social relationships, and restricted interests in children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46(2), 198–210.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lai, M. C., Lombardo, M. V., Chakrabarti, B., Ecker, C., Sadek, S. A., Wheelwright, S. J., …, & Baron-Cohen, S. (2012). Individual differences in brain structure underpin empathizing–systemizing cognitive styles in male adults. NeuroImage, 61(4), 1347–1354.

    Google Scholar 

  • Larson, F. V., Lai, M. C., Wagner, A. P., Baron-Cohen, S., Holland, A. J., & MRC AIMS Consortium. (2015). Testing the ‘Extreme Female Brain’ theory of psychosis in adults with autism spectrum disorder with or without co-morbid psychosis. PloS One, 10(6), e0128102.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Russell-Smith, S. N., Bayliss, D. M., Maybery, M. T., & Tomkinson, R. L. (2013). Are the autism and positive schizotypy spectra diametrically opposed in empathizing and systemizing? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 43(3), 695–706.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wakabayashi, A., Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Goldenfeld, N., Delaney, J., Fine, D., …, & Weil, L. (2006). Development of short forms of the empathy quotient (EQ-short) and the systemizing quotient (SQ-short). Personality and Individual Differences, 41(5), 929–940.

    Google Scholar 

  • Warrier, V., Toro, R., Chakrabarti, B., Litterman, N., Hinds, D., Bourgeron, T., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2016). Genome-wide analyses of empathy and systemizing: heritability and correlates with sex, education, and psychiatric risk. bioRxiv, 050682.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wheelwright, S., Baron-Cohen, S., Goldenfeld, N., Delaney, J., Fine, D., Smith, R., …, & Wakabayashi, A. (2006). Predicting autism spectrum quotient (AQ) from the systemizing quotient-revised (SQ-R) and empathy quotient (EQ). Brain Research, 1079(1), 47–56.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Psychology, City College of New York, New York, USA

    David M. Greenberg

  2. Autism Research Centre, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Douglas House, 18b Trumpington Road, CB2 8AH, Cambridge, UK

    David M. Greenberg & Simon Baron-Cohen

  3. Department of Psychology, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK

    David M. Greenberg

  4. CLASS Clinic, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust (CPFT), Cambridgeshire, UK

    Simon Baron-Cohen

Authors
  1. David M. Greenberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Simon Baron-Cohen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David M. Greenberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, MS, USA

    Bradley A. Green

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG

About this entry

Cite this entry

Greenberg, D.M., Baron-Cohen, S. (2017). Empathizing-Systemizing Theory: Past, Present, and Future. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_893-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_893-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation