Is Arrogance and Self-Superiority an Aspie trait?

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League_Girl
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09 Mar 2013, 1:55 pm

I feel this way too about myself. I felt like a narcissist because of it and thought I have that trait.


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kamiyu910
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09 Mar 2013, 2:21 pm

I actually really hate how I sometimes feel as if some other people are lesser beings. Or maybe like children, because I seem to have a very strong maternal instinct on the primal level towards them... it's really hard to explain. I'm certainly not "better" than any one person, since everyone has their own strong suits and weaknesses and I definitely have my fair share of weaknesses. But yet I get that feeling and I hate it.


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09 Mar 2013, 3:44 pm

I can relate to most of you. Interesting. I can feel superior to others sometimes, it reinforces my self-esteem and helps advancing my life, but I hate it too. Especially when I see it to extreme in other people. I simply don't want to be like them. Yes, some people do seem to be better than others but who am I to judge them? That's a really strong point, in my opinion.

Now that I'm becoming more aware of my neurology, I'm finally getting somewhere with having a self-esteem and respect for others at the same time.


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09 Mar 2013, 4:43 pm

I feel the mixture of both. I can often figure things out logically that others can't and that makes me feel suprior, but my inability to interact with people makes me inferior.

I don't think self-superiority is an inherent AS trait. The statistical fact that people with AS generally have an above-average IQ and our confirmation of that in our real life (academic success at school etc) probably make us feel that way. I'm not saying that all the people with AS feel that way, but I believe many of us do.

I think I sometimes see some threads/posts that seem to imply some sense of superiority here on WP. I myself might have also written such posts in the past.



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09 Mar 2013, 4:48 pm

MannyBoo wrote:
Is it?

"Feeling different" is a common thing people say. Well not only have i felt different, but to be honest, i also felt "better" than the people around me. More intelligent, more creative, seeing patterns they can't, etc...

When i look at it objectively, this is obviously an arrogant way of thinking. This has contributed to me losing friends in the past. I am not a bad person, i love people, i totally believe in equality of all people, but admittedly, i also have feelings of self-superiority. It is a contradiction, so i am wondering about it.


Yes I feel I'm a better person than the majority

If that makes me arrogant so be it

I feel it in my bones though!

it's a moral rather than an intelligence thing



Ann2011
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09 Mar 2013, 6:31 pm

I think it might have to do with theory of mind; lack of which is a trait of autism. Perhaps because we are sometimes unaware of other points of view, we assume that we are more intelligent. But really we are missing the bigger picture.
I know I've been very arrogant about things but then later realized a detail or perspective that I totally missed.



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09 Mar 2013, 6:47 pm

There are times I feel like that, and times I feel weak, stupid, pathetic and inferior. It averages out to feeling "different". Clearly things that come naturally to me are difficult for them, but the opposite is equally true and society was not made for people like me. I might focus more on the areas where my abilities are superior to compensate for the fact that I'm so often made to feel like a pariah, and you can't blame me for that, can you?



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09 Mar 2013, 6:53 pm

Ann2011 wrote:
I think it might have to do with theory of mind; lack of which is a trait of autism. Perhaps because we are sometimes unaware of other points of view, we assume that we are more intelligent. But really we are missing the bigger picture.
I know I've been very arrogant about things but then later realized a detail or perspective that I totally missed.


Hate to make a 'me too' post, but I subscribe to this viewpoint as well.

Aside from the dubiousness of claiming 'superiority' at all, whether based on ability or something else, I know from personal experience that having a great IQ test result doesn't necessarily translate to intellectual skill in the real world. I typically score in the 130 range on IQ tests, but in practice I am a rather slow thinker, do not make certain logical connections that the average person seems to have no problem with, and am generally limited in my capacity for taking in new information, processing it, and especially applying it in a practical manner.

I am aware of my strengths, but I am also aware of my weaknesses. The two balance each other out to the point where I can function adequately.

More on-topic, I have had spells of arrogance, especially during childhood and adolescence, which were based on my self-perceived intellectual prowess. While it made me smug, I don't recall ever having feelings of superiority toward others.


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Jaden
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09 Mar 2013, 9:21 pm

I feel logically superior to almost all humans I have encountered, however, self superiority and arrogance are two traits that everyone in the world have and it's so obvious, it's caused wars.


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09 Mar 2013, 10:29 pm

I don't consider myself superior to other people. Rarely do such thoughts even cross my mind. That's just how I am.



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10 Mar 2013, 2:29 am

I think it is a reaction to living under siege from some of the worst elements of NT society, it is an ugly system of thinking. The idea that a person is superior to the rest of society is a dangerous idea which was shown years ago to be a fool's errand.

The great problem with being better than the others is that there will always be someone in the world who is smarter or better than you. The idea that a person can be perfect and a superman died in my mind when I heard about the Leopold and Loeb case in 1924. These supermen thought that they would show themselves how great they were through a senseless murder.

One of them left his POSH glasses (only three sets ever made) near where they dumped the body. Thus showing that they were far from being supermen.


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10 Mar 2013, 6:23 am

I've had feelings of self-superiority on occasion. If I know something to be true/accurate/correct and it's being disputed by whomever I happen to be talking with, they unfortunately won't hear the end of it. I really despise it when someone/people spread misinformation around me. Sometimes it just happens to be so egregious that I honestly wonder in my mind how people can possibly be so ignorant and stupid. I consider myself to be an incredibly logical person and oftentimes wonder how/why others don't see the same answer/solution.

I've been called arrogant many times by my ignorant c**t of a father. Oh well; goes with the territory I suppose. Realizing you can't get help from your parents on schoolwork while growing up because they don't understand any of it doesn't give one much of a choice. If someone thinks I'm arrogant for having to work hard and on my own to solve a problem, and they perceive me as some sort of 'know-it-all', then f**k 'em, I say.

I've also been, many times even, at the other end of the spectrum: feeling that I truly have slim-to-none self-worth.


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10 Mar 2013, 6:39 am

I let people state their opinions, and occasionally be wrong. I know some arguers who do nothing but, and I try to avoid them because they are really annoying. If I cannot avoid them and they keep arguing about everything, I usually purposely make such stupid and ridiculous statements that they either freak out more or finally realize that I don't care.

According to science, the brain areas responsible for rational thoughts don't activate in people whenever a statement contradicting with their conviction is said. Therefore I assume that most of the arguments are like talking to a brick wall, which is probably true.

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10 Mar 2013, 8:22 am

If I have ever felt superior, it's not been in an arrogant way. It's been through experiences where people have so frequently shown me their incompetence that it staggers me they have done something so erroneous. I'm not saying I don't make mistakes, of course I do, but they are usually mistakes based on stress, forgetting something due to anxiety etc. not mistakes because of failed intellectual capacity.

The amount of people I have come across, in responsible positions that have made stupid mistakes or decisions has made me realise that high functioning autistics and Aspies do often have a level of intellectual and logical superiority.

It's not something we should be ashamed of, because we are just being honest, and we freely admit to our deficiencies in other areas that most NTs don't have.

It's like their mental capacity is evenly spread, whereas ours is often counter balanced in another area to compensate for our deficiencies. It's only fair we get some sort of bonus out of this!


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10 Mar 2013, 8:28 am

whirlingmind wrote:
If I have ever felt superior, it's not been in an arrogant way. It's been through experiences where people have so frequently shown me their incompetence that it staggers me they have done something so erroneous. I'm not saying I don't make mistakes, of course I do, but they are usually mistakes based on stress, forgetting something due to anxiety etc. not mistakes because of failed intellectual capacity.

The amount of people I have come across, in responsible positions that have made stupid mistakes or decisions has made me realise that high functioning autistics and Aspies do often have a level of intellectual and logical superiority.

It's not something we should be ashamed of, because we are just being honest, and we freely admit to our deficiencies in other areas that most NTs don't have.

It's like their mental capacity is evenly spread, whereas ours is often counter balanced in another area to compensate for our deficiencies. It's only fair we get some sort of bonus out of this!


Yes I totally agree with this

Unfortunately it's social ability that will always be rated higher than any other skill by the majority



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10 Mar 2013, 8:44 am

It's a narcissistic trait, which is possible to have alongside AS as part of someone's personality makeup, or as a personality disorder.