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.
Yes for sure
As a Southampton FC fan and a philosophy enthusiast, all I can say is…….
NAS64271 said:Huskies and malumutes are the quietest dogs I've met so far.
Then you need to ask them to sing you the Husky Awoooo Best thing ever.
Hi guys,
I'm new. I agree with all that has been said and especially the fact that we tend to care more in general about important things than non autistic people. They can empathise with another normal bod having a "bad day" which to us is absolutely nothing in comparison to our "bad day," and that's seen as lack of empathy. We have empathy for who and what we prioritise as important. No human lacks empathy ( except psychopaths, that's the point of being one) it just depends what that person cares about and understands the most. Non autistic people don't get this. Also, their idea of social "success" is pointless in most situations and only has value to themselves and similar people. Social "success" depends entirely on being able to manipulate, deceive, pretend and follow etiquette that has no other purpose other than to make people feel better about themselves while doing nothing of any benefit to anyone. The irony is that we are seen as narcissistic, rude and deficient when it is the non autistic people that live and breathe those qualities like air. We are honest, not rude; we hyper focus and like to learn and share our learning ; we have to relate everything to ourselves in order to process it, we are not narcissistic; we care about things that matter and disregard the rest, we are not deficient. I said all this and more to a psycologist and a psychiatrist recently and they labelled me with several personality disorders including BPD. I have not met a single non autistic person alive that understands autism in 38 years.
Huskies and malumutes are the quietest dogs I've met so far.
Your wellies will come in handy if you get a dog. : -)
I tell you now in all truth and honesty, god has told me that he loves me because I asked him to tell me. Because god loves those who are like children, who love
The blind cannot lead the blind. The blind have helpers, to teach them the way.
Heaven is a place
God is trying to teach the world as he has in the past through humans that they need to love
You are not alone or solitary I tell you that there is a heaven and God loves those who love.
We are all humans. Love to you all.
Some music as we hear it is part of the light of love. We hear, we see, we feel love or any way a human can experience love it is possible to experience love and never be without love. What happens when we experience anything on this planet? How do we experience things? Love is a sensory phenomenon- in light, in sound, in touch, in all experience.
Believe in love.
Those who persist in bullying and being cruel to vulnerable people should know that there is a god.
Somewhere in the darkness there’s a candle softly gleaming.
I think that autism should be seen a developing difference in the evolutionary path of humanity and based on previous evolutionary trajectories, who knows why? I can only give an educated guess and guiding comment that we are not all the same and this is not a bad thing. We need difference in humanity to complete all the different jobs that are required. We are like a beehive, but we are not bees. We are humans and we do not fully understand our selves or our planet. We can teach each other love (charity), patience, understanding and striving for the best in us all, always hoping, always considering how we can be the best we can be as humans, for the good of us all. Whatever people say about people who have autism or people who don’t (and it must also be remembered that quite a lot of intelligent people think that ‘we’re all there somewhere), I have found that people who are said to have autism are generally more loving, more honest, simpler, more childlike, more innocent, and many other good things. We can all strive for the qualities that will fit us for heaven.
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.
A lot of social cognition is based on social conditioning and the underlying parameters to social cognition are genetics and evolution. I don’t know if this is related, I tried to make a new thread but it seems I’m not allowed to, I want to get a dog but I don’t want it to bark a lot - I have sensitive ears. Does anyone know what dog would be a good dog for me?