ArticleJournal of autism and developmental disorders2026
Cognitive Empathy, Affective Empathy and Empirical Research on the Double Empathy Problem: A Critical Methodology Review.
Article in Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThe double empathy problem posits that autistic people and non-autistic people both lack empathy with the other side rather than the lack of empathy solely residing in one side. There have been empirical studies which lend support for the double empathy problem. I show that these studies are largely not engaging with cognitive nor affective empathy.
methodsTwenty different papers are assessed on measurement made, set-up of the interaction employed and duration of the interaction to establish whether the evidence those studies generate is applicable to cognitive and affective empathy.
resultsFirstly the experimental measures in these studies are largely not making measurements that would detect cognitive or affective empathy. Secondly, many use setups which do not encourage or are not conducive towards cognitive or affective empathy occurring. Thirdly, many involve a short period of interaction for cognitive or affective empathy to occur.
conclusionThese studies are largely not generating data about whether the double empathy problem is applicable to cognitive or affective empathy. Which aspects of empathy the evidence supporting the double empathy problem is related to is considered and suggestions are made for how future studies on the double empathy problem could target cognitive and affective empathy.
Indexed as
Identifiers
42101768What OpenQuestion holds
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.