What's Your Empathy Score?

By faerierealm

Open Your Heart and Embrace Empathy! A Heartfelt Plea by Faerie Realm . In our opinion, the more we care about others, the better, because we are stronger together than we are in small groups. How much do you care about others? See the list below to determine where you fall on the 'empathy scale.' . "I feel empathy for..." (What's the highest number you would say describes you?) 1. Only my immediate family 2. My immediate and extended family 3. My immediate and extended family and my closest friends 4. All of the above + my more distant friends 5. All of the above + my acquaintances 6. All of the above + everyone I ever met 7. All of the above + everyone in my country 8. All of the above + everyone on my continent 9. All people on all continents 10. All people + all mammals 11. All people + all mammals + all amphibians, reptiles, fish, and birds 12. All animals on the planet Earth (but not plants) 13. All animals in the universe, including alien life (but not alien plants) 14. All living things in the universe (including plants) 15. All natural things in the universe including inert entities such as rocks 16. Everything that exists . Study results: According to a 2019 research paper published in Nature Communications (a well-established and very reputable scientific journal, link below), the most common score for conservatives is 4, meaning they care about their family and friends but no further. The most common score for liberals is 14, meaning they care about all living things in the universe (but not inert items such as rocks). To be clear, the distributions cover all values, meaning some conservatives also have high empathy scores, and some liberals have low scores. But the distributions reveal very clear and distinct peak concentrations, as the plots above show. We'll refrain from proselytizing about these results except to say that we encourage everyone to reflect on the nature of empathy and whether, if a population as a whole lacks empathy, it can effectively counter the machinations of the ultra-rich Epstein class, which is hell-bent on stealing all of the wealth of working and middle class individuals and families. Remember, the ultra-rich have a lot of money they can spend buying media and using that media to convince people to fight each other so we don't recognize the true source of their struggles: the ultra-rich grabbing everything for themselves. Our advice to people? Don't let the Epstein class divide us! Reject the manipulation, and perhaps consciously try to embrace empathy. It may not come easily at first, because the ultra-rich have spent billions of dollars to try and convince you to 'punch down' at immigrants and trans folks. But most of us are in the same boat—the working and middle class boat—and we must stop fighting each other or we'll all drown as the Epstein class keep raising the water level. If more people embrace empathy instead of punching down at those weaker than them, we think (or at least we hope) that more people will start to realize that immigrants and trans folks are NOT the ones getting rich off of you. And who's actually getting rich off of you? Who's not sharing with you the gains of our amazing societal and technological advances? Embracing empathy will help reveal the true answers to these questions, as opposed to the ones the Epstein class are feeding you. Reject the manipulation, and embrace empathy! 🧡 . Originally published: April 16, 2026 Updated: April 20, 2026 (updated an image) . . . Citation for the information provided above: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/336076674_Ideological_differences_in_the_expanse_of_the_moral_circle

Tags: empathy, greed, class-struggle

Comments (22)

DavidP

You know me well 😀 First had to google 'empathy'. Of course I have a sense of the word and the distinction with 'sympathy', but still, thought a crisp definition would help: "Empathy is the ability to understand, share, and experience another person's emotions and perspective, often described as 'stepping into their shoes'". Given that, without hesitation my empathy meter climbs up to 9. Really have to think about it when considering the animals. Do I feel when encountering cruelty etc. Yes. Is that empathy or sympathy? Probably overthinking. If so then meter can rise up to 12. I'll say 12.5 because I'll add plants which only get added at 14. Does feel a bit odd for me that I need empathy for the universe animals/beings before plants just on mother earth. But frankly, having empathy for the unknown seems a bit of a stretch. That all aside - I think a society that lacks empathy is more likely to be self-serving, exploitative, treat people unjustly, unkindly. People need to be made aware, think about it. So thanks for your blog. I shall try to find my optimistic hopeful self on this, but I confess it is challenged at the moment.

faerierealm

Honestly, if we'd made the scale, we would have ordered them a little bit differently. I also don't understand why plants don't show up until #14 because I love to garden and we have lots of potted plants in the house (probably more than Gael would prefer haha). So I would bump plants up to #13 at least and move their #13 (which includes alien life) down one notch, because I really don't know how I'd feel about alien life until I met it haha. That said, I very much agree with your statement: "I think a society that lacks empathy is more likely to be self-serving, exploitative, treat people unjustly, unkindly." My country (USA) is a prime example of what happens when you elect an angry, vindictive man who campaigned on vengeance and retribution. To the rest of the world: Don't like what you see happening in the USA? Then reject Far Right authoritarian fascism like the Hungarians just did and vote with empathy instead. Thanks for your comment, David! ✨

faerierealm

So glad to hear that, Sealine! (Although we could already sort of tell, just from your images and comments, that you're very empathetic and thus, lean liberal.) Like you, I'd have to meet the alien life to decide if I care about it, but I do love plants so if it were a total and not a how-high-describes-you, then I'd be a 13. Otherwise, I'm also a 12. My partner and I are Americans as well, and we both hope that the current US administration--which appears to be fueled by anger, cruelty and violence--will cause more Americans to realize that electing someone with an empathy score of 1 is a bad idea. I guess we'll see with the November elections and then again two years later (assuming we still have elections by then).

faerierealm

Hahaha that's an interesting point! I suppose there's a difference between 'small scale' empathy and 'society wide' empathy. And I don't think you need to have one to have the other. For example, in our travels in Norway, Gael and I spent some time just people-watching, and if anything, Norwegians are more reserved than Americans. It's not like they're all super friendly or super courteous or anything. But when it comes to their society, they're MUCH more empathetic because they believe everyone should have guaranteed healthcare and free education all the way up through college. So I don't think you have to be super friendly or nice at an individual level to have empathy for society as a whole. But great point, and thanks for commenting!

CaylaCatz

wow! that's a pretty comprehensive list. I hadn't realize it did steps all the way up to rocks and the planet. This is just my opinion but I think isolation/alienation and fear can make empathy lower. It'd be interesting to have this test right before, during and after covid to see how being isolated affected empathy. However, I also feel empathy is one of the strongest tools to break free of isolation/alienation and fear. I bet there's a study out there that shows higher empathy correlates with feeling one has a higher quality of life.

faerierealm

Yeah the list is flawed, to be sure, and should probably be a total, not a "how high can you go," but the idea is there: The more things you care about, the less likely you are to be an asshole haha. After all, it's a lot easier to divide and conquer a bunch of assholes than a unified group of people who care about each other. That's why the ultra-rich Epstein class want us to hate each other and not care, because it serves their own selfish and greedy goals.

faerierealm

Yes, that's a good point, Cayla! Scientific studies have shown that those who identify as conservative also have larger amygdala, which means they experience fear and anxiety at higher levels than others. And fear and anxiety make you more likely to distrust others. As for the effect of loneliness and isolation on empathy, you're probably correct about there being a study on it, but I don't know about it and would have to read up on that before responding. But thanks for your insightful comment! ✨

Sealine

I think I'm going to have to go with 12. I couldn't say about alien life. I care about plants in the sense that we need them to survive but can't say I feel for them in a capacity beyond that. I live in the US and don't mind sharing that. It probably won't surprise any that know me at all that I lean heavily to the liberal side.

Hephzibah

I think mine is wildly fluctuating, while I might like to have lots of empathy, I feel like it evaporates quickly when face to face with 1. Bad drivers on the road 2. Life's day to day frustrations dealing with bureaucracy. Maybe lower empathy scores just mean people don't have a way to cope with all the bad news/need in the world?

CaylaCatz

amygdala is a new word for me. thank you. I think I heard it before tho on "Firefly" but I thought it was a madeup word for a scifi show. You don't have to research. It was just a thought that popped into my head. I liked what you wrote.