For what its worth, for the people questioning the test, it is the current standard for measuring autistic-like traits (not for diagnosing any autism spectrum disorders). The test was constructed by one of the leading researchers in the field (Baron-Cohen).
I studied this test (and took it) recently as part of one of my psych units. I took it twice at different times and scored 37 and 40, which unsurprisingly was the highest in my psych class (I'm quite an outlier there).
The test is based on Baron-Cohen's (he's the cousin of Sacha - a bit of trivia) 'extreme male brain' theory of autism; that traits typical of male brains are seen in the extreme in people with ASDs. This in turn is based on the Empathizing-Systemizing theory, which you can read about at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathizing%E2%80%93systemizing...
I would expect that many of the folks here at HN score very highly on the systemizing quotient (SQ).
Remember, none of this is meant as diagnosis, the AQ is just a measure of the presents of certain traits, it does not measure how extreme they are.
39!! I think I'm of the new strand in human evolution ... I've always wondered what socializing really meant? ..
I mean I know for sure, I care for people more than some of the social butterflies out there, so I don't think anyone could argue that Asperger's people are cold hearted people.
It's just evolution stripping away the part of your brain that will soon become obsolete.
Interesting that they just measure the tendency (slightly/definitely scores the same).
I 'scored' (really? Maybe my usage of this word is just too limited, but I imagine a football/soccer fanatic shouting 'SCOOORE' whenever I read/use that) 23.
Talking completely out of my rear end: If the average was 16.4 assuming a 'normal' and representative group of adults, than I'd _expect_ a higher average score here, in a much more biased group of hackers.
Hmm 40. Isn't it that fashion to consider yourself autistic these days however? I've never been diagnosed nor am I really considered to have those tendencies by others (afaik anyway :) I'm not certain of the veracity of this test either. These multiple choice agree -> disagree tests always seem a little cargo cult to me.
My problem is that the test assumed that all answers were binary. You either do it or you don't but they didn't consider that context matters. Sometimes you don't enjoy others company. Sometimes you do.
Sometimes you enjoy meeting people, sometimes you don't. I enjoy meeting interesting people. Most people are just stupid clones that you can more or less predict completely just by knowing 5 facts about them.
So I understand that scoring higher means a higher chance of having autistic tendencies...does the opposite end signify anything else besides having a lower chance? (I scored a 13 fwiw)
oh, i'm an idiot. thanks/sorry - deleting post. [and i claim i notice small details and "achieved" 32...]
incidentally, they say "Eighty percent of those diagnosed with autism or a related disorder scored 32 or higher", but what would be more useful is the number of people scoring 32 or higher that were diagnosed with autism (they're going in the wrong direction, if you see what i mean).
I studied this test (and took it) recently as part of one of my psych units. I took it twice at different times and scored 37 and 40, which unsurprisingly was the highest in my psych class (I'm quite an outlier there).
The test is based on Baron-Cohen's (he's the cousin of Sacha - a bit of trivia) 'extreme male brain' theory of autism; that traits typical of male brains are seen in the extreme in people with ASDs. This in turn is based on the Empathizing-Systemizing theory, which you can read about at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empathizing%E2%80%93systemizing...
I would expect that many of the folks here at HN score very highly on the systemizing quotient (SQ).
Remember, none of this is meant as diagnosis, the AQ is just a measure of the presents of certain traits, it does not measure how extreme they are.