Why do some NTs think aspies don't feel emotions?

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FireFox
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19 Sep 2008, 3:40 am

Someone at my high school once told someone that I "didn't feel emotion". It really bothered me.



PilotPirx
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19 Sep 2008, 3:50 am

We often don't show emotions or show them in a way NT's can't understand. Especially with emotions body language is very important.


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CyclopsSummers
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19 Sep 2008, 4:02 am

Heh... Back in school, I was 'the emotional one' in my circle of friends. Quick to anger, prone to cry for minor reasons, and also having fits of laughter. People who were around me for more than a week usually realised that I was a very, very emotional person.

Sometimes, though, people (both strangers as well as people who've known me for a while) will think that I'm emotionless in some situations, because I'm aloof, my response to certain events that incite emotion in non-autistics may appear emotionless, (or even rude or blunt).


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ZakFiend
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19 Sep 2008, 4:32 am

FireFox wrote:
Someone at my high school once told someone that I "didn't feel emotion". It really bothered me.


What that person meant is that you don't show emotions through voice intonation and body language, this is the one thing that some AS people do unconsciously - their expression is muted. For instance you reserve your energy you don't become very enthusiastic and animated, i.e. "get into the part".



Jellybean
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19 Sep 2008, 4:59 am

I think the problem is not that we don't feel emotions (I wish...) but that we show them in a different way to most people. NT's try to 'read' our body language but find our lack of it confusing and sometimes even rude. If anything I am too emotional!


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dougn
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19 Sep 2008, 5:57 pm

I think I am much less emotional than the average person - unless the emotions people show are feigned.

But I might be less emotional than the average Aspie, too. It's rather a difficult thing to measure.



ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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19 Sep 2008, 5:59 pm

I think I am too emotional. I don't know about my body language because I can't see myself.



claire-333
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19 Sep 2008, 6:06 pm

My emotions seem to be extreme and limited...and of course there is indifference. I feel lots of indifference. I would have to say I am quite apathetic.



MissConstrue
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19 Sep 2008, 6:07 pm

Because ignorant people whether aspie or not, don't bother to educate themselves and therefore misconstrue people and things for labels making them ignoramuses.


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Drakilor
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19 Sep 2008, 6:11 pm

The emotions of aspies are usually very bland. This makes them excellent as professional killers (or just rapists if they're too inept to become gunmen).


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Callista
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19 Sep 2008, 6:12 pm

I'm an all-or-nothing with emotion. When I'm calm, there's no expression on my face; when I'm happy, it's obvious; when I'm sad, I can't stop crying. Anxiety looks ten times worse than it is. Frustration comes out looking like rage. It's as though I can't repress emotional expression... I wear my heart on my sleeve. I used to be able to repress it, when I still used to hurt myself; but that kind of a solution was counterproductive, so I dropped it and learned to stop the extremes before they happened. (Especially frustration and sadness--those are emotions that come with meltdowns, because often times they are what I feel when something is uncomfortable, unexpected, or disappointing.)

An odd result of this whole mess: I've been described as having 'flat affect' as well as being 'too dramatic'--things that are just about opposites!


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Josie
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19 Sep 2008, 7:09 pm

I have a hard time expressing myself. I have emotional problems. people say I usually have a blank expression~!~



TheMidnightJudge
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19 Sep 2008, 8:15 pm

I wish I didn't feel emotion.

People follow prejudices about disabilities (or things perceived as disabilities)



AngelUndercover
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19 Sep 2008, 8:18 pm

Because we express emotions differently.

I tend to have the opposite problem; people often think I'm more upset than I actually am, because I cry as a stress release. (My control over it is very limited.)


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19 Sep 2008, 8:33 pm

because they misappropriate emotion. they feel emotion first logic second, our emotion is tempered by the logic we advance put on any given situation


am I right


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FireFox
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19 Sep 2008, 8:35 pm

TheMidnightJudge wrote:
I wish I didn't feel emotion.


I don't think so. Then one would be an utter robot.