Insensitivity to social reputation in autism. So how is it?

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http://www.pnas.org/content/108/42/17302.full
10/10/11

Questionable indeed. It's not that I "don't take in consideration what others think of me", it's that I try to be liked and fail, try to appear relaxed and breezy and obviously fail, try to make casual conversation and end up sounding like an alien, try to build a friendship and scare people off, try to joke and instead of making people laugh, hurt their feelings, try to help and smother, try to appear independant and am percieved as dependant AND arrogant, try and fail, rince and repeat.
I'm twice as awkward while being observed. So in the charity case study, I would probably be too self conscious to walk up and physically give to the charity. I'm more likely to give money to a homeless person if I'm alone with them, I might even engage them in conversation. If anyone else is around, I'm afraid of being judged negatively for it, even if it makes no sense, every move I make makes me fear negative judgement. So I do not move.

The study suggests that the people who analyze study results are freaking idiots and shouldn't be allowed to speak.

Sorry about that, I probably shouldn't have written that, but Autism researchers really annoy me, jumping to conclusions and using whatever information they have to justify their own theories. Why don't they ever just try asking Autists how they think for a change instead of treating them like stupid tools incapable of feeling?

I voted for "Only if these are people who care about me (relatives, friends) or if I have a goal in mind" but I feel I can relate to this, too: "I constantly try to please everyone (even at my own expense)" - obviously without much success...

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Talk about social science! They took 24 subjects, excluded 3, 10ASD and 11NT left. And they got publicity from every one science news site I occasionally skim through. Not to mention the experiment itself and its conclusions, for some reason they seem just fallacious and thrown together. That's how I would do my university report in the area which I have no interest in.

@ediself can really relate to your post.

I don't care about what they think of me.

I care about whether I hurt them or not and if I didn't help them when I could. This isn't because of if I hurt them they dislike me or if I help them then they like me. Being liked or disliked is only a side effect. It's the level of whether I hurt someone or whether I helped them is what matters to me. (Though I do go over the top on that and put people before myself more than I should.)

I really don't think this is a negative thing.

I'm cheered up more when someone who's autistic tries to cheer me up while having no idea how to do so (and thus defaulting to special interests) than when an NT does the standard expected actions for trying to cheer me up. The sincerity of that person who has no idea what to do means far more than that person what is doing what is expected of them.

Aha! Now that I've calmed down and actually read the study, I now have something clever to say, I think.

The results of the study argue that NTs lack the ability to behave altruistically. As NTs lack altruism, their opinions are invalid as they are simply lying in order to manipulate and cannot be trusted.

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Apart from family, I really don't care what other people think of me. I used to care, alot. I would spend ages researching the latest trendy things so I could be friends with the popular kids, but it didn't work. After years and years of getting picked on and rejected, I decided to say "f##k off" to everybody else and do what I wanted to do, and live the way I wanted to live. Hence why I'm a 17 year old dude who likes My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. I like it openly, and screw what other people think because most people are scumbags and highly judgemental anyway. Why should I care about what they think? Misanthropy has helped me feel better about myself, because when you realise most people are dirt, you stop being limited by social rules, normality and the other soul destroying stuff that only makes life upsetting and boring. Would most people change for you? Nope. So why limit yourself and change so you "fit in" better? If what you do hurts nobody or anything, then there's nothing wrong with that. You want to walk around wearing a clown afro and nose? Do it. Want to start dancing in the middle of the street, or randomly put on a gas mask and shout at people from car windows? Do it! Screw what people think! Eccentric people are cool and interesting anyway, normality is the enemy. Normality stomps on the face of progress, normality keeps us where we are, normality keeps us in little boxes that only make us miserable. Be as weird and whacky as you can, and if you can't do that, I'll do it for you because I love being a hyperactive eccentric nutcase, and to hell with others!

Wow. I don't know why, but this survey came across to me like "have you stopped beating your wife?"
There's really no way to answer with a checkbox or giving the entirely wrong impression.

My behavior is very altruistic, but not because I care about how other people feel *about me*. I do care about how people feel about themselves, life, the universe and their situation. But I generally don't care much about how they feel about me except whether or not it's justified. (so that I can correct unintentional behaviors) I often help people that I've never met and never expect to have future contact with. It's not a social thing.

While I enjoy the company of some people, I don't seek it out or feel compelled to make or maintain contact, so my altruism has nothing to do with building social capital. I would argue that someone who does good deeds to be perceived as a good person are not, technically, altruistic. Perhaps Aspies are the only true altruists

I personally feel that helping where possible is the right thing to do. By helping, I'm self-actualizing. If I have an ability or a resource that someone else needs, why wouldn't I share it? (especially if I'm not in any way diminished by doing so)

I feel very uncomfortable accepting help from others, so there is no desire for reciprocity.

With all of that said, I can be punitive and refuse to help those who abuse me or others.