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What could explain this?

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swbluto
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25 Sep 2011, 9:28 pm

So, I was conversing with another member here and made a classic communication mistake where I missed the obvious meaning the user intended and assumed other, more complex meanings.

Here's the conversation:

ME: I took the OCD screening test and scored 13. Do I need to seek help immediately?

THEM: only if you're superstitious...

ME: I have OCD, so I guess I am...

SOMEONE_ELSE: Diagnosed?

ME: No, it was just a response to let THEM know that I understood his double entendre "If you're superstitious..".

THEM:

Quote:
i didn't have a double meaning =/

just meant that 13 could be considered an unlucky number....so then if you were superstitious you might think you have it because of the number you got.

also i am just jiving at the webpage because it is so ridiculous about what it says at the end...plus the questions seem quite silly...but most psych tests are kind of funny with the questions they ask....

<terminate topic>


[The user who is "THEM" is clearly annoyed at this point]

ME:

Quote:
lol. I clearly missed that and that seems like it should have been obvious to me (In retrospect, it looks like the "obvious meaning").

I saw the possible meanings of your statement being...

-"If you're superstitious enough to believe an arbitrary score predicts if you have a mental disorder"

-"If you're superstitious, than you're likely to have OCD (Because OCD individuals tend to be superstitious)"


So, this is a kind of interpretation mistake that I make with neurotypicals every single day. I miss their simple, obvious meaning and think they meant more complex but unlikely meanings. Is this characteristic of autism or schizophrenia or something else? Is it a "classic" autistic mistake or... not?



Verdandi
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25 Sep 2011, 10:02 pm

I am not sure what qualifies as simple and obvious versus complex and unlikely. Mostly, it comes from not applying context and hearing words literally.

I don't think the other poster was annoyed.



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25 Sep 2011, 10:07 pm

It took me awhile to catch on to the '13' too.


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swbluto
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25 Sep 2011, 10:11 pm

Verdandi wrote:
I am not sure what qualifies as simple and obvious versus complex and unlikely. Mostly, it comes from not applying context and hearing words literally.


Hmmm... it's pretty clear I didn't make a connection between "superstitious" and "13". I wonder if this is just a simple memory issue, where the number "13" wasn't retained in memory while reading the sentence. Or maybe it has something to do with cognitive rigidity where 13 wasn't recognized as a "bad luck number" at the moment, even though I do possess the knowledge that 13 is a bad luck number and I may have remembered the number 13 while reading the sentence.

Quote:
I don't think the other poster was annoyed.


I think the lines "I didn't have another meaning. :/"

and

"Just meant that..."

and, especially, "<terminate topic>", suggests the person is annoyed because <terminate topic> basically means "I don't want to talk about this topic anymore", and typically people annoyed with the topic say that.



Tuttle
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25 Sep 2011, 11:03 pm

swbluto wrote:
Verdandi wrote:
I am not sure what qualifies as simple and obvious versus complex and unlikely. Mostly, it comes from not applying context and hearing words literally.


Hmmm... it's pretty clear I didn't make a connection between "superstitious" and "13". I wonder if this is just a simple memory issue, where the number "13" wasn't retained in memory while reading the sentence. Or maybe it has something to do with cognitive rigidity where 13 wasn't recognized as a "bad luck number" at the moment, even though I do possess the knowledge that 13 is a bad luck number and I may have remembered the number 13 while reading the sentence.

Quote:
I don't think the other poster was annoyed.


I think the lines "I didn't have another meaning. :/"

and

"Just meant that..."

and, especially, "<terminate topic>", suggests the person is annoyed because <terminate topic> basically means "I don't want to talk about this topic anymore", and typically people annoyed with the topic say that.


I read "I didn't have another meaning. :/" as "I didn't have another meaning, odd that you thought I did" and "<terminate topic>" as "lets not go off discussing this when its irrelevant".



Verdandi
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26 Sep 2011, 12:17 am

Tuttle wrote:
I read "I didn't have another meaning. :/" as "I didn't have another meaning, odd that you thought I did" and "<terminate topic>" as "lets not go off discussing this when its irrelevant".


Yes, this is what I saw.