How Well Can You Read Emotions?

[Honor]

So, there are arguably many ways to define emotional intelligence, but the New York Times reported last fall that people who read fiction tend to be more able to read other people's emotional state based on visual cues.

How well can you read other people's emotions? I'm curious to see what the average score on the forum will be. Amongst my Facebook friends, it seemed to land around 26. The highest possible score is 36.


http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/well-quiz-the-mind-behind-the-eyes/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Understanding Your Score
The average score for this test is in the range of 22 to 30 correct responses. If you scored above 30, you may be quite good at understanding someone’s mental state based on facial cues. If you scored below 22, you may find it difficult to understand a person’s mental state based on their appearance.

I rarely ever read fiction, but I got a 34. I think I just spend much of my time absorbing other people and their emotions, haha. Anyway, for those of you who like competition, that is the score to beat.

 

[Freesia]

31/36. I do read a lot of fiction though so that's probably why I scored this high.

 

[Alea_iacta_est]

I got 31 out of 36, but I felt as though this was extremely hard. I ended up just deciding on what seemed right almost every time, and I got distracted a few times by some attractive eyes. I enjoy fiction a bit more than non-fiction.

 

[prplchknz]

19/36

 

[LadyLazarus]

30/36, I just kind of went with my instincts.I have a strong preference for fiction.

 

[cafe]

29 I read a lot of fiction but not the kind that is supposed to make you better at this kind of thing.

 

[TickTock]

SCORE:34/36

Understanding Your Score
The average score for this test is in the range of 22 to 30 correct responses. If you scored above 30, you may be quite good at understanding someone’s mental state based on facial cues. If you scored below 22, you may find it difficult to understand a person’s mental state based on their appearance.

edit: a note on what I read.

I read off and on, for a long time now I haven't read all that much fiction. However in the last couple of years I've been reading classics and modern classics, which I very much enjoy but I am a slow reader and don't read that many in a year.

 

[Ghost]

I got 32/36. On two of them, I second guessed my instinct. Would've had 34 out of 36!

Used to read compulsively, but not nearly as much for the last few years. I read more nonfiction and articles online than fiction nowadays, but I've started getting back into fiction again. At any given time, I'm partway through a novel and/or a story collection. Not sure what it has to do with guessing emotional states based on visual cues except you might be more practiced at inhabiting another person's emotional landscape and thought process. Dunno.

ETA: if the study alluded to in the OP is the one where they attempted to pit literary fiction against popular fiction and nonfiction, I see less of a reason to correlate reading fiction with reading expressions. That study was too limited, and I didn't like the way they selected excerpts. Most of what I read falls under the umbrella of speculative fiction with the occasional historical, romance, or literary novel. If fiction were to help me gauge others' moods, it certainly wouldn't be the literary kind. And don't they realize some fiction crosses genres (like literary SF) and some literary novels make it onto bestseller lists?

I doubt the wankier fiction I've seen in literary journals would be any more beneficial than Danielle Steele for encouraging empathy.

 

[prplchknz]

I don't get how reading fiction would help with this. I used to read tons of fiction, and never been good at reading facial expressions

 

[WALMART]

18/36

 

[93JC]

33

 

[Vasilisa]

29/36

Flashback: The Eye Test

 

[Cimarron]

28 out of 36. Kind of surprised I did that well. The choice was certainly not clear on some of them, seemed like they were "missing" the best description.

 

[Freesia]

I don't get how reading fiction would help with this. I used to read tons of fiction, and never been good at reading facial expressions

That's what I thought too. I could see how reading fiction could make you more empathetic, but I'm not sure how it helps you read people's facial expressions.

 

[Alea_iacta_est]

That's what I thought too. I could see how reading fiction could make you more empathetic, but I'm not sure how it helps you read people's facial expressions.

I think it might have something to do with people reading fiction and visualizing the characters in their minds, that we conjure up facial expressions for characters in books when there are lines that say "he sneered, he smiled, he frowned, she laughed, she ogled, etc.".

 

[Ingrid in grids]

I scored 36

I could recognise a lot of those eyes, too.

 

[two cents]

33/36

This was a good one! Looks like they are photos of people "in the wild" rather than posing/acting out emotion, which makes recognizing the expressions more about trying to imagine what people are feeling behind those eyes and less about going down a checklist of which muscles should be contracted under which circumstances. Also, the possible descriptions were mostly of complex states like "pensive" and "concerned" and "preoccupied" which is what most people run into most of the time, rather than exaggerated/un-nuanced things like "afraid" or "happy".

 

[1AuroraAngel1]

28/36

 

[Destiny]

I scored 25/36

How I wish I can score above 30

 

[chickpea]

30/36