Goodness yes 
K
katyelphinstone@mas.to
@katyelphinstone@mas.to
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from? -
Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Or to those who did not
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?@HighlandLawyer @fishidwardrobe
Exactly this.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Absolutely. And that was error no. 1
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?And it's occurring to me that perhaps the participants in the study were doing the same thing...
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Just realising that what I like most about your take is that you're taking society's ruling that we have to talk about 'blame' (thank you, society) but then you're subverting it to something that actually makes more sense.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Yes! That's a different way of expressing what I think is basically the same problem. What even is 'blame'? In your scenario, you do equate it with being responsible (which I think is fine, too).
And I love the bit "that doesn't mean she should be punished"
Yes, sigh, I wish they had asked the autists to point these things out
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Haha no worries and thanks
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?exactly, right? Thanks for answering like this, you've validated my reality
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Yes, exactly that 🥰
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Yes, they could have designed the study with those things in mind - and should have, in my view. I've a feeling it would have been a rather different study if it had less simplicity but more clarity around the foundation concepts.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?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. 🧵
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?This would mean:
- responsibility should be proportional to agency, influence, and ability to change outcomes (this would be not just logical but also extremely useful),
- individual / exclusive moral condemnation or punishment is not required in all situations where harm occurs,
- responsibility to take appropriate action is not the same thing as blame, and conflating the two is an error.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Here’s an alternative take.
(Note: These are just my thoughts, I’m very open to discussion and other suggestions!)It may be – though we can’t know this, since participants weren’t asked – that autistic people in the study didn’t lack anything, but rather tended to reason in logical terms.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?...are tasked with the enormous and near-impossible job of ‘educating them’ (and blamed for failing when they don’t manage to).
But, sadly, the privileged ones are selectively deaf or you didn’t use the right tone or… or… well, I think you get the gist.
️ #EpistemicInjustice #Racism #BlackLivesMatter #Patriarchy #GenderEquality #TransLivesMatter #LGBTQ+
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?I’ve noticed that being innocent of knowledge is a good defense for many crimes in our society.
Those with the most power to change things seem to often be the most innocent of knowledge.
While people who are marginalized, discriminated against, and who don’t have much in the way of resources, influence, or free time...
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Within this frame, prioritizing outcomes over intentions is coded as a moral error...
A lack of understanding about the situation and about other people.
Even though, for the person who’s now dead, intentions make very little difference, while the outcome has been quite important to them.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?Error 1) Presupposition / Loaded framing. The task assumes that when harm occurs, someone usually gets blamed. That assumption isn't tested & is built into the question.
Error 2) False dichotomy. Moral evaluation is reduced to blame vs no blame, leaving no room for partial, shared, or non-punitive responsibility.
Error 3) Category error. Conflation of blame and responsibility. Responsibility for outcomes is treated as identical to moral condemnation, collapsing two very different concepts.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?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.
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Have you wondered where the claim that autistic people lack empathy came from?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