Article: Brain structure varies based upon trust of others

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Summary: “Brain structure varies according to how trusting people are of others, scientists say. This research may have implications for future treatments of psychological conditions such as autism, said the study's lead author. Each autism diagnosis is on a spectrum and varies, but some diagnosed with the condition exhibit problems trusting other people.”

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I personally have always had issues trusting other people. This article suggests that this is in fact common for other Aspies. Is it?

By the way, I always attributed this to the way I was treated by others growing up. I figured that I learned not to trust others.

I have access to the actual article through my university.

The article itself says nothing about autism. They studied a sample of NTs who showed individual variation in levels of trustingness. I don't know where the news story got autism from, maybe a throwaway comment by the author or something, but this study actually says nothing at all about autism.

Personally, I doubt autism itself affects trustingness. My guess is, if autistic people actually do have lower rates of trustingness (which would not surprise me), it would be due to the following:

a) being bullied by peers in childhood

b) lower rate of secure attachment, due to parental grief at diagnosis or at noticing their child's differences (a lot of studies have found disabled kids whose parents aren't able to resolve grief over their child's disability end up insecurely attached)

I think my lack of trust is learned rather that intrinsic.