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Vol.14 No.2

Individual differences in empathizing and systemizing





The Korean Journal of Woman Psychology / The Korean Journal of Woman Psychology, (P)1229-0726; (E)3058-2083
2009, v.14 no.2, pp.269-286
https://doi.org/10.18205/kpa.2009.14.2.004
& (2009). Individual differences in empathizing and systemizing. The Korean Journal of Woman Psychology, 14(2), 269-286, https://doi.org/10.18205/kpa.2009.14.2.004

Abstract

According to Baron-Cohen(2003), individual differences between male and female, and between science and humanities students could be explained by two psychological dimensions: empathizing and systemizing. Systemizing is the drive to analyse systems or construct systems, and held to be our most powerful way of understanding and predicting the law-governed inanimate universe. Empathizing is the drive to identify mental states and respond to these with an appropriate emotion, and held to be our most powerful way of understanding and predicting social world. In this study, sex and major differences of empathizing and systemizing were tested with Korean university students. 374 university students in the sciences major and the humanities major were given self-report questionnaires assessing the systemizing and empathizing tendencies: SQ and EQ. There were significant sex and major differences on the empathizing quotient and systemizing quotient. On the EQ, females scored significantly higher than males, but on the SQ, males and science students scored significantly higher than females and humanities students. In addition, more females and humanities students were categorized as the “empathizer” in whom empathizing is stronger than systemizing, but more males and science students were as the “systemizer” in whom systemizing is stronger than empathizing. there The results indicated that males and the individuals in the sciences were more systemizing-driven than emapthizing-driven, whereas females and the individuals in humanities were emapthizing-driven than systemizing-driven. In addition, the systemizers scored significantly higher than the empatizer on the AQ, suggesting that people with high systemizing have higher levels of autistic features.

keywords
성차, 공감하기, 체계화하기, 인지유형, 전공 분야, sex differences, empathizing, systemizing, cognitive style, major area

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