It’s the modern buzzword we’ve all been told to strive for – but how much is too much when it comes to empathy?

While there’s no denying that it’s a good thing to be able to relate to those around you on an emotional level, the Goldilocks rule can be applied to our levels of understanding just as easily as it can be to porridge; there is a sweet spot.

Too little empathy, and you wind up becoming slightly robotic, stony-faced over heartbreaking news stories, ignoring the needs of others, and completely at a loss when faced with your best friend’s tears.

Too much empathy, and you put yourself at risk of heightened stress levels and the inability to make rational, impartial decisions. 

Read more: Stylist investigates the dark side to empathy

Ideally, we need to find the 'just right' spot - which is a little trickier to determine than Goldilocks' taste test.

To help you to determine exactly how empathetic you are, Stylist has teamed up with a psychologist to design a quiz that will help you to determine exactly how empathetic you are.

More importantly, they have also dished out some advice on how to address your compassion levels if you find yourself too far on either side of the sliding empathy scale.

Time to find out where you fit into all things empathetic...