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01-04-2007 | Original Paper

Who Cares? Revisiting Empathy in Asperger Syndrome

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

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders | Uitgave 4/2007

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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.
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Metagegevens
Titel
Who Cares? Revisiting Empathy in Asperger Syndrome
Auteurs
Kimberley Rogers
Isabel Dziobek
Jason Hassenstab
Oliver T. Wolf
Antonio Convit
Publicatiedatum
01-04-2007
Gepubliceerd in
Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders / Uitgave 4/2007
Print ISSN: 0162-3257
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3432
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-006-0197-8