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 d

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_theory 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.