ArticleAutism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research2022
Reexamining empathy in autism: Empathic disequilibrium as a novel predictor of autism diagnosis and autistic traits.
Article in Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Steroid hormone pathways, vitamin D and autism: a systematic review.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of Cannabidiol-Rich Cannabis Oil on Facial Expression Recognition and Theory of Mind in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2026Trial
- Navigating Mixed-Neurotype Dialogue: Environmental and Affective Influences on Autistic Speakers.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2026Article
- A Study on the Influence of Empathy on Helping Behavior of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder Under Different Affective Priming Conditions.Journal of autism and developmental disorders · 2026Article
- Nuances of double empathy in autistic and non-autistic people: examination using the empathic accuracy paradigm.Molecular autism · 2026Article
- Feeling more than understanding: empathic disequilibrium and emotional reactivity in eating psychopathology.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Empathic Disequilibrium in Autistic Traits and CU Traits: Investigating Empathy Imbalance in Children.Research on child and adolescent psychopathology · 2026Article
- Neural Heterogeneity Underlying Behavioral Equivalence: A Dynamic Neuro-Decoding Study of Cognitive and Affective Empathy in Relation to Autism-Like Traits.Brain and behavior · 2026Article
- Article
- Heightened empathic responses led by imbalanced cortico-amygdala circuit inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Change in empathic disequilibrium across childhood and associations with socioemotional difficulties.European child & adolescent psychiatry · 2025Article
- 'Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- 'American journal of sexuality education · 2024Article
- The world is nuanced but pixelated: Autistic individuals' perspective on HIPPEA.Autism : the international journal of research and practice · 2024Article
- Prevalence of bias against neurodivergence-related terms in artificial intelligence language models.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2024Article
- Pathways to Psychopathology Among Autistic Adults.Current psychiatry reports · 2023Review
- Empathic disequilibrium as a new framework for understanding individual differences in psychopathology.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Incels, autism, and hopelessness: affective incorporation of online interaction as a challenge for phenomenological psychopathology.Frontiers in psychology · 2023Article
- Reexamining empathy in autism: Empathic disequilibrium as a novel predictor of autism diagnosis and autistic traits.Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research · 2022Article
- Empathy for pain in individuals with autistic traits during observation of static and dynamic stimuli.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
A large body of research showed that autistic people have intact emotional (affective) empathy alongside reduced cognitive empathy. However, there are mixed findings and these call for a more subtle understanding of empathy in autism. Empathic disequilibrium refers to the imbalance between emotional and cognitive empathy and is associated with a higher number of autistic traits in the typical population. Here we examined whether empathic disequilibrium predicts both the number of autistic traits and autism diagnosis. In a large sample of autistic (N = 1905) and typical individuals (N = 3009), we examined empathic disequilibrium and empathy as predictors of autistic traits and autism diagnosis, using a polynomial regression with response surface analysis. Empathy and autistic traits were measured using validated self-report questionnaires. Both empathic disequilibrium and empathy predicted linearly and non-linearly autism diagnosis and autistic traits. Specifically, a tendency towards higher emotional than cognitive empathy (empathic disequilibrium towards emotional empathy) predicted both autism diagnosis and the social domain of autistic traits, while higher cognitive than emotional empathy was associated with the non-social domain of autism. Empathic disequilibrium was also more prominent in autistic females. This study provides evidence that beyond empathy as was measured thus far, empathic disequilibrium offers a novel analytical approach for examining the role of empathy. Empathic disequilibrium allows for a more nuanced understanding of the links between empathy and autism. LAY SUMMARY: Many autistic individuals report feelings of excessive empathy, yet their experience is not reflected by most of the current literature, typically suggesting that autism is characterized by intact emotional and reduced cognitive empathy. To fill this gap, we looked at both ends of the imbalance between these components, termed empathic disequilibrium. We show that, like empathy, empathic disequilibrium is related to autism diagnosis and traits, and thus may provide a more nuanced understanding of empathy and its link with autism.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.