Hyper-sensitivity vs. theory of mind deficit-contradiction?

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01 Jun 2011, 6:47 am

I've seen some claims that people with autism or AS are "hyper-sensitive" - I remember a quote saying something like "I walk into a room and immediately know what everyone else is thinking/feeling". Does this kind of hyper-sensitivity not contradict the theory of mind deficiency many people with autism supposedly have?

StuartN
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01 Jun 2011, 7:06 am

alexptrans wrote:

I have two entirely different answers.

One is that people on the autistic spectrum seem to have a greater spread of any measurable trait, i.e. more people at both extremes of IQ, dyspraxia, linguistic competence and (I guess) emotional recognition.

The other is that people on the autistic spectrum are often hypervigilant, and will be acutely aware of "emotional intensity" in a room, even without being able to identify the particular emotion. Because the default, suspicious, position of assuming emotions of hostility / anger / aggression is more often right than wrong, it has the appearance of being acutely sensitive to other people's emotional states.

alexptrans
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01 Jun 2011, 7:16 am

StuartN wrote:

That's very interesting. I never considered that 'spread' could account for hyper-sensitivity.

diadict
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01 Jun 2011, 12:07 pm

StuartN wrote:

The other is that people on the autistic spectrum are often hypervigilant, and will be acutely aware of "emotional intensity" in a room, even without being able to identify the particular emotion. Because the default, suspicious, position of assuming emotions of hostility / anger / aggression is more often right than wrong, it has the appearance of being acutely sensitive to other people's emotional states.

Very interesting... I have developed a number of coping mechanisms in understanding others' emotions, reading body language, tone, where they look, etc... Between this and the above, my wife is amazed by the details I can pick up on. But of course, I still suck at group dynamics.

marshall
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01 Jun 2011, 12:29 pm

alexptrans wrote:

As for knowing what everyone else is thinking/feeling, I get the sense that most people (AS and NT alike) are way baised in their assessment of their ability to know what other people are thinking. To really have accurate Theory of Mind you've got to learn your own prejudices and activily compensate for them.

As for being able to detect subtle things, especially in the voice, that indicate a change in mood, I think many with AS are just as sensitive as NT's. The theory that people on the autism spectrum are universally deficient in picking up body language cues is definitely flawed as it just doesn't hold for all all individuals or all types of autism.

qvasi
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02 Jun 2011, 4:27 am

I think the "theory of mind" stuff is a bit strange and self contradictory concept. NT's are supposed to have a theory of mind and automatically understand others, but they certainly don't know what I'm thinking, and keep assuming I am in the same train of thought as them. (BTW, I'm not dx'ed with asperger but I have ADD and I suspect I'm also an aspie)

They certainly have no real "theory" of mind, because they just seem to assume everyone think the same way as they do. I myself are bad at figuring what other people think, but I know they definitely don't think the way I do, so I know I have to do a mental "reverse stacktrace" (yes, I'm a programmer) explaining the chanin of associations from what they said to what I'm about to say, to get them to understand what I'm about to say. When speaking to other programmers (many of them possibly on the spectrum too), I find that I don't need to do a full stacktrace most of the time, and they ask for it themself if they did not understand the connection. Explaining my association chains may make me seem strange, but at least I'm almost always able to make myself understood by NT and aspies, while most people blurt out random half complete sentences and get misunderstood a lot of the time.

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02 Jun 2011, 6:32 am

Theory of Mind is also about predicting behavior. I can know you are mad, but have no clue as to what you are going to do next.

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02 Jun 2011, 7:16 am

qvasi wrote:

I agree with you. I know NTs who think they know how I'm feeling about something. They'll say 'I know what you're going through ....' Then they go on to say something which proves they've no idea what I'm feeling. For example, they think they know what it's like to have child like mine (with as yet undiagnosed but probable ASD, personal safety and behavioural issues), just because their child sometimes doesn't do as they're told, first time round. My child never does as she's told even by the 10th time round, ever. Their exact words are 'I know what it's like, all parents go through it'. No they don't. They think they can put themselves in another person's shoes, but they're no better than those with AS, in my experience.

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