Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Janet tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
️ #Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
There are a lot of people in the USA telling others that
- there's no climate crisis
- vaccines are dangerous
- immigrants are taking all the wealth
- greed is good
- …Causing a lot of serious harm, including death.
Yet most of them are not autistic. But do lack moral reasoning.
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@KatyElphinstone > - individual / exclusive moral condemnation or punishment is not required in all situations where harm occurs,
Presumably if she actually liked that friend and truly thought (unjustifiedly) that it was safe, losing the friend is more than punishment enough. Rather, it is likely to be quite traumatic.Goodness yes
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@thatfrisiangirlish @KatyElphinstone Depressingly true. People think I'm gloomy or misanthropic because I paint what I think are accurate, dispassionate pictures of folks' behaviour.
And yet, I somehow still seem to be more (cautiously) optimistic in my interactions with strangers than lots of NT people where preconception seems to shape reality.
@gra@hachyderm.io I mean, same? Just because I can model pretty well the general response of society, that doesn't mean I agree, endorse, and act according to that. Because that would be depressing as fuck. @KatyElphinstone@mas.to
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Janet tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
️ #Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Sally tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
Without additional context, I am left to assume that Sally is in no way qualified to advise anyone on whether or not "it's safe". The correct thing for Sally to have told her friend that she could not offer any sort of authoritative assessment of the situation and her decision is whether her own.
Also, did the friend approach Sally and explicitly ask for her opinion or did Sally just blurt out "hey, it's safe to swim with jellyfish!" without being prompted? That would be an important thing to know.
Either way, Sally was wrong to tell her friend it's safe. She should be far more careful with her words.
Edit: "despite her good intentions". There is not enough information for the reader to infer that Sally's intentions are "good".
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@KatyElphinstone there's another angle too: you might consider it a breach of trust to say it was safe when they didn't know, and didn't try to find out. "blame" wouldn't even come into it, but if that's the only thing you're asked....
@sinvega@mas.to @KatyElphinstone@mas.to I started with a message lower in the thread. Once I read the context, my immediate reaction was to say, out loud, "wtf, she shouldn't be asserting things if she doesn't know"
Like yeah, I think she is responsible, because her lack of double checking is what led to the outcome. Does that mean I want something to be done? Hell no! At most this is a cautionary tale of why you should always know the edge of your knowledge, nothing more -
Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Janet tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
️ #Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
@KatyElphinstone I'm autistic. I'm enpathtic enough that someone else's misery makes me feel miserable. When I say I want everyone to be ok, not only do I care about the well being of others, it also would improve my own quality of life. The pain and suffering of other people hurts me.
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Autistic people, after all, are known for preferring logic (I certainly do).
And we’re also known for thinking outside the box – meaning that if we’re forced to make false decisions based on faulty assumptions, then we are quite likely to make the ‘wrong’ choice.
Interested to hear others’ thoughts on this! And I’ll be looking for another influential study to look closely at.
I really enjoy analyzing things!
End of thread. 🧵
@KatyElphinstone I have explicitly argued more than once that we have two different concepts that are routinely conflated in broader society, excuses and reasons.
An excuse is an ethical justification for a thing.
A reason is a logical justification for a thing.If I acknowledged that theft is logically justified by lack of wealth, whether that entails an excuse is an entirely other argument to be had.
I wouldn't have necessarily coded this bright line division as autistic but...
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Janet tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
️ #Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
@KatyElphinstone My mom used to say "The way to hell is paved with good intentions".
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Janet tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
️ #Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
@KatyElphinstone I don't think this was the origin? When I was diagnosed in 2014, the Empathy Quotient was one of the screening tests. That goes back at least to 2004.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Janet tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
️ #Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
@KatyElphinstone
Is it weird that my first thought after just reading your post was that it's about something an AI confidently said that turned out to be false? lol -
@farah @KatyElphinstone
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the google AI killed them, my thought too. We wouldn’t blame the person who actually looked it up before they answered!@punishmenthurts @farah @KatyElphinstone
Wow they let anyone in this thread eh ?
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@punishmenthurts @farah @KatyElphinstone
Wow they let anyone in this thread eh ?️@EVDHmn @farah @KatyElphinstone
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like a bad penny
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Janet tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
️ #Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
@KatyElphinstone My empathy can be so intense sometimes, I get overwhelmed.
I definately dont lack empathy, and my theory of mind is also intense.
Everything I feel, see, hear, taste, smell is intense.
I'm autistic.
Damned lying myths, makes people think bad stuff about me that isnt true.
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Autistic people, after all, are known for preferring logic (I certainly do).
And we’re also known for thinking outside the box – meaning that if we’re forced to make false decisions based on faulty assumptions, then we are quite likely to make the ‘wrong’ choice.
Interested to hear others’ thoughts on this! And I’ll be looking for another influential study to look closely at.
I really enjoy analyzing things!
End of thread. 🧵
@KatyElphinstone
Wow ok I have so many thoughts and want to research this back clinically. I’m happy to see this thread getting some action I’ll see what I can throw on and see what others have to say. Keep in mind.
The whole lack of empathy thing is least. 86-90 years old at least. Plus there’s another angle I have to run down thanks for the thread!
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@EVDHmn @farah @KatyElphinstone
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like a bad penny@punishmenthurts @farah @KatyElphinstone
Hows it been going up north? We finally hit 32 it’s like a bloody heat wave. -
Autistic participants were more likely than non-autistic participants to say Janet was to blame, despite her good intentions.
This was interpreted as evidence of faulty moral reasoning or reduced empathy.
But that conclusion rests on three errors of logic built into the task itself, and not on evidence that autistic people care less about others.
️@KatyElphinstone Janet is responsible, but also her friend for not asking someone else to doule check the facts of the situation.
Janet made a mistake (or she lied). Did the story tell us if Janet was lying or mistaken? Lies should be punished, mistakes should be taken as Janet needing better education,. A lie or Janet didnt know any better, so an adult should have told her the truth.
We should learn from mistakes, not be punished for what we didnt know.
Involuntary manslaughter.
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Autistic participants were more likely than non-autistic participants to say Janet was to blame, despite her good intentions.
This was interpreted as evidence of faulty moral reasoning or reduced empathy.
But that conclusion rests on three errors of logic built into the task itself, and not on evidence that autistic people care less about others.
️@KatyElphinstone Faulty moral reasoning of the person who told the story and/or created the test.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?
The “jellyfish” study (2011) was influential in this, as it concluded that autistic people lacked Theory of Mind & capacity for moral reasoning.
https://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-01-autistic-mind.html
In the fictional scenario given to participants, Janet tells a friend it’s safe to swim with jellyfish. She believes they’re harmless. The friend is stung and dies.
️ #Autism #Empathy #Neurodiversity #Psychology #TheoryofMind #ActuallyAutistic
@KatyElphinstone Also, some autistics have learned to not show feelings whatsoever. I met someone who had no feelings in their tone and reacted as if he had no feelings on anything.
Asking him why he had no feelings, he told me it was out of a need to survive, for whenever he did have feelings, his father would grab him by the neck, lift him into the air and hold him against a wall.
Yeah, we got some PTSD there.
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@punishmenthurts @farah @KatyElphinstone
We had cold températures, probably not cold for a season pro like you. I had to get creative and essentially layer my flat in air gapped microclimates, 40 degrees or 3/4 isn’t all that warm inside when its -10 outside -
@punishmenthurts @farah @KatyElphinstone
We had cold températures, probably not cold for a season pro like you. I had to get creative and essentially layer my flat in air gapped microclimates, 40 degrees or 3/4 isn’t all that warm inside when its -10 outside@punishmenthurts @farah @KatyElphinstone
By the Time I was done my appartment kind of looked like a scene out of dexter with all the plastic and duct tape .
