Psychologists from the universities of

Bath

,

Cardiff

and

London

(

UK

) have developed the first

'mind reading questionnaire'

to assess how people understand what others are really thinking and have concluded that women are better than men to put yourself in the place of others.

The study, published in the journal

Psychological Assessment

, develops a new approach to 'mind reading' in order to improve understanding of what other people are thinking.

Mind reading, sometimes referred to in psychology as

'mentalizing'

, is an ability to pick up subtle behavioral cues that could indicate that someone we are talking to is thinking something they are not saying (for example, being sarcastic or even to lie).

According to the researchers, all people have different mind-reading abilities, and some are inherently better than others.

The fact that not all are good at mind reading can cause challenges, particularly for people with autism, where it can lead to social challenges building or maintaining relationships.

To identify people who are struggling and provide them with the appropriate support, Bath's team designed a new mind-reading test with data from more than 4,000 people with and without autism in the

United States

and the United Kingdom.

The researchers scored the results of their simple four-step questionnaire, with a range of 4 to 16 (where 4 indicates poor mind-reading skills and 16 indicates excellent skills).

The mean score was between 12 and 13.

First Mind Reading Quiz

The questionnaire consisted of four statements: I find it easy to put myself in someone else's shoes, sometimes I find it difficult to see things from other people's point of view, sometimes I try to understand my friends better by imagining how things look from their perspective and I can usually understand someone else's point of view, even if it differs from mine.

The responses were strongly disagree, slightly disagree, slightly agree, or strongly agree.

After statistically confirming that the test was measuring the same in men and women, they found that women had better mind reading than men, while confirming some of the social challenges faced by the autistic community.

"Without a doubt, we have all had experiences where we have felt that we have not connected with other people we are talking to, where we have perceived that they have not understood us or where the things we have said have been taken incorrectly. Great part of the way we communicate is based on our understanding of what other people think. However, this is a surprisingly complex process that not everyone can do, "says

Punit Shah

, lead author of the study and leading expert on

Cognitive Social Processing

in the Department of Psychology, University of Bath.

Shah adds: "To understand this psychological process, we needed to separate mind reading from empathy. Mind reading is about understanding what other people are thinking, while empathy is about understanding what other people are thinking. others feel. The difference may seem subtle, but it is critically important and involves very different brain networks. "

"By carefully focusing on measuring mind reading, not confusing it with empathy, we are confident that we have just measured mind reading. And, in doing this, we consistently found that women had greater mind reading skills than their male counterparts, "he says.

Rachel Clutterbuck

, co-author of the study, highlights the clinical importance of the questionnaire.

"This new test, which takes less than a minute to complete, has important utility in clinical settings. It is not always obvious if someone has difficulty understanding and responding to others, and many people have learned techniques that can reduce the appearance of social difficulties, even if they persist, "he says.

Shah concludes: "This research has focused on understanding more about our mind-reading abilities and providing solutions to those who may be struggling, particularly the autistic community. We have created a freely available questionnaire that we hope can help identify to people who are experiencing difficulties relevant to social situations. "

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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