How well can you read emotions of others just by
looking at their eyes?
Find out and compare yourself to others.
The ability to read the emotions of others is linked to "social
intelligence" which, in turn, is linked to performance on team-based
problem solving tasks.
The test typically takes 10 minutes to complete.
This test requires a laptop or a tablet. It will not work on a phone.
The test may also not work properly on older versions of Internet Explorer.
This is an implementation of the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test
developed by prof. Simon Baron-Cohen at the University of Cambridge.
Statement of Informed Consent
Researcher: Nazeli Hagen
Faculty Advisor: Krzysztof Gajos
Key Information
The following is a short summary of this study to help you decide whether or not to be a part of this study. More detailed information is listed later on in this form.
Why am I being invited to take part in a research study?
We invite you to take part in this research study because everyone is eligible to participate in it. There are no required conditions or circumstances.
What should I know about a research study?
Someone will explain this research study to you.
Whether or not you take part is up to you.
Your participation is completely voluntary.
You can choose not to take part.
You can agree to take part and later change your mind.
Your decision will not be held against you.
Your refusal to participate will not result in any consequences or any loss of benefits that you are otherwise entitled to receive.
You can ask all the questions you want before you decide.
Why is this research being done?
We are trying to understand how well people can identify other people’s emotions by looking just at their eyes. We want to understand whether this skill is related to how one’s attitudes and experiences conform to contemporary gender norms.
How long will the research last and what will I need to do?
We expect that you will be in this research study for 10 minutes.
You will be shown 37 pictures showing just the eyes part of people's faces. You will be asked to guess what emotion these eyes are showing. We will also ask you a few basic questions before and after the test about yourself and your computer use.
Is there any way being in this study could be bad for me?
We don’t believe there are any risks from participating in this research.
Will being in this study help me in any way?
We cannot promise any benefits to you or others from your taking part in this research.
Detailed Information
The following is more detailed information about this study in addition to the information listed above.
What is the purpose of this research?
We are trying to understand how well people can identify other people’s emotions by looking just at their eyes. We want to understand whether this skill is related to how one’s attitudes and experiences conform to contemporary gender norms. We want to see if there are trends in different characteristics and behaviors, including those related to gender norms, associated with how well people can identify people’s emotions. We hope to use these trends to better understand differences in how people use computer interfaces as a whole.
How long will I take part in this research?
We expect that this research study will take 10 minutes.
What can I expect if I take part in this research?
You will be shown 37 pictures showing just the eyes part of people's faces. For each picture, you will be given 4 emotions. You will be asked to guess which emotion these eyes are showing. We will also ask you a few basic questions before and after the test about yourself and your computer use.
What happens if I say yes, but I change my mind later?
You can leave the research at any time by closing the web browser or leaving this website, and it will not be held against you.
If I take part in this research, how will my privacy be protected?
What happens to the information you collect?
Efforts will be made to limit the use and disclosure of your Personal Information, including research study records, to people who have a need to review this information. We cannot promise complete secrecy. Organizations that may inspect and copy your information include the IRB and other representatives of this organization. Additionally, your information could be used for future studies or distributed to another researcher for future studies without your additional informed consent.
Who can I talk to?
If you have questions, concerns, or complaints, or think the research has hurt you, talk to the research team
by contacting Nazeli Hagen, Maxwell Dworkin 242, 33 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA,
nazelihagen@college.harvard.edu
or Prof. Krzysztof Gajos, Maxwell Dworkin 251, 33 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA,
kgajos@eecs.harvard.edu.
This research has been reviewed and approved by the Harvard University Area Institutional Review Board
(“IRB”). You may talk to them at (617) 496-2847 or cuhs@harvard.edu if:
Your questions, concerns, or complaints are not being answered by the research team.
You cannot reach the research team.
You want to talk to someone besides the research team.
You have questions about your rights as a research subject.
You want to get information or provide input about this research.
By clicking the "I agree" button you confirm that you have read and understood the above and agree to take part in this research. Your participation is voluntary and you are free to leave the experiment at any time by simply closing the web browser.
Please tell us a little bit about yourself.
Why are you participating in this study? (Optional)
How do you describe yourself? (Optional)
You have completed the main part of the test!
We have some more question for you (optional).
Some psychologists hypothesize that there are links between personality traits and social intelligence. This is why we have added these extra questions. They are optional, but if you are willing to answer them, it will help us a lot!
You have answered half of the questions.
A quick break.
Please take 10 seconds to think of a situation when you enjoyed having responsibility of handling a situation that required a lot of thinking.
(Buttons for moving to the next part of the study will appear within 10 seconds)
Instructions
This test will investigate your ability to read emotion from the
eyes. You will be shown a pair of eyes with four emotion labels
around it. You are to select which one of the four emotion words
best describes the emotion that the eyes are showing. Please
provide one best guess for each item.
There is one practice question followed by 36 test question.
We will tell you how you did compared to others at the end.
Face
Instructions
This test will investigate your ability to read emotion from the
eyes. You will be shown a pair of eyes with four emotion labels
around it. You are to select which one of the four emotion words
best describes the emotion that the eyes are showing. Please
provide one best guess for each item.
How do you feel?
Select the figure that best describes how you are feeling (optional).
Why are you taking this test? (Optional)
Why have you decided to skip to the end of the experiment?
You have completed the main part of the test!
We have a few more question for you (optional).
The last questions while we prepare your results...
Tell your friends about this test!
You answered % of the questions correctly.
How did others do on this test?
On average, other people answered 74% questions correctly.
But we found that not everyone does the same on this test:
Women, on average, perform 2% better than men.
Young people under 18 score substantially lower than adults.
Does this test work equally well for all people around the world?
This test was developed in Great Britain and the images you saw were taken from British magazines in 1990's.
Unsurprisingly, the test doesn't work perfectly for people who are not native speakers of English or for people who come
from cultures that are very different from Britain's.
Should you worry if you got a low score?
No. Your screen lighting level, mood, fatigue and many other factors might have affected your score. The results
of this test are useful when they are averaged across many people, but they can be inaccurate for any
individual person.
Typical results.
In the original experiments with this test, the average ratio of correct answers for
British adults was 74%. The average result for students was 80%.
However, individual results ranged from 49% to 100% as many factors may
affect performance: the lighting, the quality of your screen, your
emotional state, fatigue, not to mention knowledge of the English
language.
Social intelligence and team-based problem solving.
Recent research published in Science in 2010 demonstrated that there
is a link between how well team members perform on this test and how
well the team performs on complex problem solving tasks. In fact, the
overall "social intelligence" (or "collective intelligence" as it is
referred to in the paper) was more than five times more important to
the team success than the average IQ of the team members!
Besides this test, there were two other factors that were found to be
important for team success: how equally team members contributed to
the conversations (teams where one person dominated the conversation
performed less well than those where all members contributed roughly
the same),
and the number of women on the team (yes, the more women, the better
the team did! Sorry guys...).
If you want to hear this from the horse's mouth, here is the paper:
Reading the Mind in the Eyes and Autism.
This test was originally developed by prof. Simon Baron-Cohen at the
University of Cambridge as part of his and his team's research on
autism. Adults with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism
answered on average 63% correctly on this test. Again, large individual
differences were observed. There is big overlap between the
results of typical adults and adults with Asperger Syndrome.
The paper describing the version of the test used in this study is here:
Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb,
I. (2001). The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test revised version:
a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or
high-functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,
and Allied Disciplines, 42(2), 241-251.
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The test typically takes 10 minutes.
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Your score is out of 36.
The average score is 26.
Does this test work equally well for all people around the world?
This test was developed in Great Britain and the images you saw were taken from British magazines in 1990's.
Unsurprisingly, the test doesn't work perfectly for people who are not native speakers of English or for people who come
from cultures that are very different from Britain's.
Should you worry if you got a low score?
No. Your screen lighting level, mood, fatigue and many other factors might have affected your score. The results
of this test are useful when they are averaged across many people, but they can be inaccurate for any
individual person.
Typical results.
In the original experiments with this test, the average score for
British adults was 26. The average result for students was 28.
However, individual results ranged from 17 to 35 as many factors may
affect performance: the lighting, the quality of your screen, your
emotional state, fatigue, not to mention knowledge of the English
language.
Social intelligence and team-based problem solving.
Recent research published in Science in 2010 demonstrated that there
is a link between how well team members perform on this test and how
well the team performs on complex problem solving tasks. In fact, the
overall "social intelligence" (or "collective intelligence" as it is
referred to in the paper) was more than five times more important to
the team success than the average IQ of the team members!
Besides this test, there were two other factors that were found to be
important for team success: how equally team members contributed to
the conversations (teams where one person dominated the conversation
performed less well than those where all members contributed roughly
the same),
and the number of women on the team (yes, the more women, the better
the team did! Sorry guys...).
If you want to hear this from the horse's mouth, here is the paper:
Reading the Mind in the Eyes and Autism.
This test was originally developed by prof. Simon Baron-Cohen at the
University of Cambridge as part of his and his team's research on
autism. Adults with Asperger Syndrome or high-functioning autism
scored 22 on average on this test. Again, large individual
differences were observed. There is big overlap between the
results of typical adults and adults with Asperger Syndrome.
The paper describing the version of the test used in this study is here:
Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb,
I. (2001). The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test revised version:
a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or
high-functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry,
and Allied Disciplines, 42(2), 241-251.
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The last questions while we prepare your results...