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Self-Assessment: Assessing your perspective-taking (Cognitive Empathy)
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Activity: Assessing your perspective-taking (Cognitive Empathy)

The source of this scale is: M. H. Davis, "A multidimensional approach to individual differences in empathy," JSAS Catalog of Selected Documents in Psychology, 10 (1980), p. 85.

Empathy refers to a person's understanding of and sensitivity to the feelings, thoughts, and situation of others. The "understanding" part of empathy is called perspective taking or cognitive empathy. It represents an intellectual understanding of another person's situational and individual circumstances.
      This self-assessment is designed to help you to estimate your propensity for perspective taking. It includes 7 statements, and you are asked to indicate the degree to which each statement does or does not describe you very well. You need to be honest with yourself to for a reasonable estimate of your level of perspective taking.

Before criticizing somebody, I try to imagine how I would feel if I were in his/her place.
     Does NOT describe me well  1  2  3  4  5  Describes me well
If I'm sure I'm right about something, I don't waste much time listening to other people's arguments.
     Does NOT describe me well  1  2  3  4  5  Describes me well
I sometimes try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective.
     Does NOT describe me well  1  2  3  4  5  Describes me well
I believe that there are two sides to every question and try to look at them both.
     Does NOT describe me well  1  2  3  4  5  Describes me well
I sometimes find it difficult to see things from the other person's point of view.
     Does NOT describe me well  1  2  3  4  5  Describes me well
I try to look at everybody's side of a disagreement before I make a decision.
     Does NOT describe me well  1  2  3  4  5  Describes me well
When I'm upset at someone, I usually try to "put myself in his/her shoes" for a while.
     Does NOT describe me well  1  2  3  4  5  Describes me well
 
  





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