Poor social skills cause intense interests??

Post Reply New Topic

Do anyone ever notice that there are lots of NTs have special interests？We had known that aspeis tend to spend amount of time and concentration on their special interests, but recently I found that NTs also have it. For example, I love to watch Discovery cannel and animal planet, there are lots of specialists studying in different types of subjects, and most of them are NTs. Its for sure that they have strong enthusiasm about their interests and devote themselves to the researches. My dad recently fascinated by Chinese poems and waste all the day to collect the deta, but he is a very sociable man. It’s seems that some NTs have special interests, too. So I tried to figure out what causes the difference.

I think a good way to extinguish aspeis interests from NTs is to observe how these interests function. Music is one of my interest, I used to have a friend who love music as well, however, he’s a totally NT. I noticed that NTs are very good at using their interest to make more and more new friends. He even grouped a band and had lots of fun which I never experienced. Both of us collected songs, cds, and music that almost occupied our life, but he has lots of NT friends so he could share his interests and build some genuine friendships. I just have difficulty to make friends even though we have similar interests. Another interest I have is tennis.(I don’t play tennis but I’m crazy about tennis matches, I watch highlights on youtube everyday.) My family always ask me why don’t I learn tennis and play with someone else on the court, I just know that it would be disturbing to interact with another guy and soon he would get bored of me. I also can image that many NTs find new friends by playing together.

I always do things alone, my interests is rarely turn into social activities so it became more limited and rigid. I have doubt that everyone have interests, but poor social skill （such like don’t know how to share）could potentially effect how these interests function. Just like we do, NTs could be very professional at some subjects, but this interests help them deal with the society. Oppositely, we are almost rely on our interests, it become the only purpose of our lifes. It may be a reason why we focus on details, like to collect and arrange stuffs because it don’t require social interactions.

So, my view is “everyone have special interests, but poor social skills make the interests narrow and intense ” However, it’s just an assumption, any advise would be welcome.

Seems like a plausible assumption to me.

Many NT's have something they are intensely interested in at some point in their lives. And many people with AS have this same level of interest, but these interests differ from what would be considered a "special interest" because I think those with special interests dwell on certain aspects of them while ignoring or having no interest at all in other aspects.

For example, I like to think about telescopes, and I greatly enjoy reviewing in my mind what I know about telescopes. I could sit idle for quite some time dwelling on these thoughts and be rather content doing so. I also like to look at telescopes. However, there are various aspects of telescopes that I don't care much about at all which and my lack of knowledge on them might prohibit me from an in depth conversation on one telescope or another, but I'm perfectly happy talking about the aspects that do interest me endlessly, for no particular reason other than the fact that I probably have some frontal-striatal "anomalies".

That is a "special" interest.

I think most NTs have a special interest in other people, though they may have other interests as well.

Autistics, in contrast, typically either have an interest in something non-social or an atypical kind of social interest.

I don't think poor social skills causes a (non-social) interest to be more intense. In university I've met some experts with very intense interests in their field and very good social skills. I think instead both greater intensity of interest and poor social skills can be caused by executive dysfunction.

Also, since NTs' primary interest is social interaction, other interests will often be dropped or taken up depending on how they affect social interaction. My younger brother (an NT with intense interests) once told me he was trying to get into a particular game because all his classmates were into it. A little while later, that game was his current interest. He's also said that when I move on from a game we both liked, he finds it less interesting because he can't use it to interact with me.

Everyone has interests but most people I've meet don't seem to have what I would consider a special interest. There are a few things I see about my own interests that distinguish them from just typical interests people have:

1. The intensity to which I can focus on them. When I practice a musical instrument I can spend hours working on one small section of music without getting bored. In fact I enjoy doing that more than running through entire songs. I can get so focused on my interests that I won't notice people around me or not hear/process when they ask me something.

2. My interests are something I almost always do alone. Working on a computer program or playing music with someone else is like putting ketchup on chocolate cake... it spoils a good thing.

3. I use my interests as a coping mechanism. If I am particularly stressed/anxious/etc I will go read a book about programming instead of facing my problems. My interests make me feel more relaxed and sort of recharge my batteries.

4. Even when it comes to my special interests I am fairly narrow within the topic. I like to program but I don't particularly like computers in a general sense. I am much more interested in specific aspects of programming languages than anything else. I play banjo but I don't really like bluegrass... pretty much the most popular type of music featuring banjo.