Published on 12, July, 2020
I wonder if any other people on the forum are as interested in - and fascinated by - the various theories of social cognition, as I am. At the heart of individual autistic experience and the socio-cultural conceptualisation of autism, social cognition surely plays a major experiential role in our lives.
Like many others, on being diagnosed I researched, ‘what is autism?’ Quickly one is presented with ‘Theory of Mind’ or Mindreading. Further research reveals, ‘Theory Theory of Mind’ and Simulation Theory of Mind .’ Then there are various phenomenological accounts that could be categorised as ‘Social Cognition without Mindreading.’ There are many other theories and innumerable syntheses thereof.
A further question must be asked, how much of social cognition has neuro-genetic underpinnings? Is there just a basic genetic toolkit that permits acquisition? Or are some aspects of social cognition hardwired?
One could argue that, experientially it make no difference which of the multitude of theories is correct. Although surely for therapeutic interventions to be successful, one could equally argue that the success of any such intervention would depend - at least in part - on knowing what is hardwired and what is not.
In ‘Why We Cooperate’, Michael Tomasello noted that because of the variations in inter-group behaviour and social cognition we have the concept of culture. Culture exists precisely because there are cultural differences. From an anthropological view point, autism could be regarded as an intra-culture variation. Our social cognitive differences don’t allow full integration in to the prevailing culture in which we are situated.
Just wondering if anyone else thinks about this stuff - or if I’m on a typical, solitary, autistic journey.
Just as there are different types of dogs that within their groups are sometimes exceptionally good at their jobs due to their genetics, evolution and social conditioning, so are humans alike to dogs in many ways. We should not be too quick to discount the changing parameters of evolution leaning towards a specific future outcome which is often unknown firing the evolutionary process and only becomes clear after many years. What seems to be bad may in fact turn out for the good eventually. My point here is that any given social parameters are not always the best combination for the good of humanity and our planet. A lot of people who have autism lean towards cooperation and care for the environment for example, rather than competition and not caring for the environment.
Your wellies will come in handy if you get a dog. : -)