How empathetic are you?

The interpersonal reactivity index (IRI) is a measure of individual differences in empathy. The original study’s author considers empathy as a multifaceted concept, and the IRI is designed to assess empathy as a combination of several separate but related constructs. There are four subscales in this survey:

1. Perspective taking (PT): the tendency to spontaneously adopt the psychological point of view of others in everyday life
2. Empathic concern (EC): the tendency to experience feelings of sympathy and compassion for unfortunate others
3. Personal distress (PC): the tendency to experience distress and discomfort in response to extreme distress in others
4. Fantasy (FS): the tendency to imaginatively transpose oneself into fictional situations
   
   Resources:
   • Davis, M. H. (1980). A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy.
   • Pulos, S., Elison, J., & Lennon, R. (2004). The hierarchical structure of the interpersonal reactivity index. Social Behavior & Personality: an international journal, 32(4).
   • https://www.eckerd.edu/psychology/iri/

Parameters
This survey cannot be tweaked.

What data is collected? How is it scored?
The following variables are recorded:

• IRI_PT_subscore (perspective taking)
• IRI_FS_subscore(fantasy)
• IRI_EC_subscore(empathic concern)
• IRI_PD_subscore(personal distress)
• IRI_totalscore

Raw data: 20 items total, 5-point Likert scale. Questions are broken into four categories (perspective taking, fantasy, empathic concern, personal distress)

Calculation:
Subscores are calculated by taking the sum of the scores for questions in each sub-factor, taking into account the reverse coding of some questions. The total score is calculated by taking the sum of all five subscores.