TEQ: Toronto Empathy Questionnaire

What this assessment is

The Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, or TEQ, is a 16-item self-report measure of empathy as a mainly emotional process.

It produces one total score from 0 to 64. Higher totals indicate stronger self-reported empathic tendencies under this model.

The TEQ is not a measure of every aspect of empathy. It is also not a diagnostic assessment.

Who it was designed for

Spreng and colleagues developed the TEQ in 2009 from a large pool of items used in earlier empathy measures.

The original studies involved healthy adult research participants. Later translations and studies have used other populations, but their results should be interpreted with evidence for that version.

This page covers the original English 16-item form. Modified and translated forms may have different item performance.

How it is administered

The person rates how often each statement describes their feelings or behavior using five frequency levels.

Completion usually takes about five minutes.

Half of the items are worded in the opposite direction and need reverse scoring, which means the response number cannot be interpreted safely without the scoring key.

Use the exact key.

The original paper does not publish a general missing-response or prorating rule. Do not produce a standard total from an incomplete form without a defined protocol.

What it measures

The TEQ focuses on emotional responses to other people. Its content includes emotional resonance, concern, recognition of emotion, and motivation to respond.

It was deliberately built as a single-factor measure.

That makes the total concise, but it does not separate cognitive perspective taking from emotional concern or self-focused distress.

The IRI provides four separate empathy-related subscales. Its scores cannot be converted into a TEQ total.

How scoring works

Each response is scored from 0 to 4. Eight positively directed responses keep that order, while eight negatively directed responses are reversed.

Add all 16 scored values.

The total ranges from 0 to 64. Higher totals indicate more frequent self-reported empathic responses as defined by the TEQ.

Keep the raw total. The original paper does not provide a standard percentage conversion or subscale scores.

How to interpret a TEQ score

The TEQ does not have validated universal bands for low, average, or high empathy.

The original three studies reported average totals around the mid-40s. Those sample averages are not clinical cutoffs.

Use a comparison group that matches the language, population, and setting. A difference from one study's mean does not by itself show impairment or exceptional ability.

Change over time also needs caution. A higher result can reflect a true change, a different mood or context, or greater familiarity with the questionnaire.

What the score cannot tell you

The TEQ cannot show whether someone accurately understands another person's mental state. That is a different question.

It cannot prove compassionate behavior, professional skill, or relationship quality. It measures how the person describes their usual reactions.

The score cannot diagnose autism, alexithymia, a personality disorder, or burnout. Low and high totals can arise for many reasons.

It also cannot separate empathic concern from emotional overarousal because the standard form produces one total.

Evidence and limitations

The original paper reported a one-factor structure, useful internal consistency, test-retest reliability, and expected relationships with other empathy and social-processing measures.

A systematic review of empathy instruments found adequate TEQ reliability but limited later psychometric research compared with some longer measures. The review did not identify a gold-standard empathy questionnaire.

Self-report is the main limitation.

People may not judge their own empathic behavior accurately, and a wish to appear caring can affect how they answer several questions at once.

Record the language, form, response coding, completeness, and comparison sample with the result.