QCAE: Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy
Reniers et al.’s 31-item measure. Designed to cleanly separate cognitive empathy from affective empathy with a confirmed two-factor structure.
What is the QCAE?
The Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE) is a 31-item self-report measure published by Reniers and colleagues in 2011. It was built specifically to separate cognitive empathy from affective empathy, sorting its items under two confirmed higher-order factors and five subscales.
31
items
2
higher-order factors
5
subscales
2011
Reniers et al.
Source: Reniers, R. L., Corcoran, R., Drake, R., Shryane, N. M., & Vollm, B. A. (2011). The QCAE: A questionnaire of cognitive and affective empathy. Journal of Personality Assessment, 93(1), 84-95. doi:10.1080/00223891.2010.528484.
Why a third instrument?
By the time the QCAE was published in 2011, the IRI and EQ had both been in wide use for decades. Reniers and colleagues argued there was still a gap: neither earlier instrument cleanly delivered two stable factors corresponding to the cognitive-affective distinction that had become central in empathy research.
The QCAE was constructed by drawing items from existing measures (IRI, EQ, Hogan’s Empathy Scale, and others) and selecting those that loaded cleanly on either a cognitive or an affective factor in confirmatory analyses. The resulting 31-item instrument has five subscales nested under two higher-order factors.
The QCAE structure
| Factor | Subscale | Items | What it captures |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cognitive Empathy 19 items | Perspective Taking | 10 | Adopting another’s viewpoint |
| Online Simulation | 9 | Actively imagining how another might feel | |
| Affective Empathy 12 items | Emotion Contagion | 4 | Automatic catching of others’ feelings |
| Peripheral Responsivity | 4 | Affective response to portrayed emotion (film, fiction) | |
| Proximal Responsivity | 4 | Affective response to emotional people one is with |
How the QCAE is scored
Each of the 31 items is rated on a 4-point scale: strongly disagree (1), slightly disagree (2), slightly agree (3), and strongly agree (4). Four items are reverse-scored before the totals are calculated.
Item scores are summed within each subscale, and the subscales roll up into two factor scores: a Cognitive Empathy score built from Perspective Taking and Online Simulation (19 items in total) and an Affective Empathy score built from Emotion Contagion, Peripheral Responsivity, and Proximal Responsivity (12 items in total). Higher scores indicate greater empathy on that dimension. Because the QCAE keeps the two factors separate, most studies report the cognitive and affective scores rather than a single combined total.
When to prefer the QCAE
The QCAE is the natural choice when your research or clinical question specifically requires separation of cognitive and affective empathy. Examples include:
- Studies of dark triad personality, where the pattern of interest is high cognitive empathy combined with low affective empathy.
- Studies of autism, where the pattern of interest is often differences on cognitive empathy with preserved or elevated affective empathy.
- Compassion training studies, where the question is whether intervention shifts affective empathy independently of cognitive empathy.
For studies that want a brief screening measure, the EQ remains more common. For studies that want the Empathic Concern vs Personal Distress distinction, the IRI is the established choice. The three instruments are complementary rather than competing.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Questionnaire of Cognitive and Affective Empathy (QCAE)?
The QCAE is a 31-item self-report empathy measure published by Reniers and colleagues in 2011. It was designed to cleanly separate cognitive empathy from affective empathy, organising its items under two confirmed higher-order factors with five subscales in total.
How many items and subscales does the QCAE have?
The QCAE has 31 items grouped into five subscales: Perspective Taking and Online Simulation make up the Cognitive Empathy factor, while Emotion Contagion, Peripheral Responsivity, and Proximal Responsivity make up the Affective Empathy factor.
Who created the QCAE and where was it published?
The QCAE was developed by Renate Reniers, Rhiannon Corcoran, Richard Drake, Nick Shryane, and Birgit Vollm, and published in 2011 in the Journal of Personality Assessment, 93(1), 84-95 (doi:10.1080/00223891.2010.528484).
How is the QCAE scored?
Each of the 31 items is rated on a 4-point scale (strongly disagree, slightly disagree, slightly agree, strongly agree), with four items reverse-scored. Item scores are summed within each subscale, the subscales are combined into a Cognitive Empathy score (19 items) and an Affective Empathy score (12 items), and higher scores indicate greater empathy on that dimension.
When should you use the QCAE instead of the IRI or EQ?
The QCAE is the natural choice when the research or clinical question specifically requires separating cognitive from affective empathy, such as studies of dark triad personality, autism, or compassion training. For a brief screening measure the EQ is more common, and for the Empathic Concern versus Personal Distress distinction the IRI is the established choice.