Added on 11/11/2024
Journal article of the type Scientific research ( ; english)
=> Unrestricted access and free
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including those who otherwise require less support, face severe difficulties in everyday social interactions. Research in this area has primarily focused on identifying the cognitive and neurological differences that contribute to these social impairments, but social interaction by definition involves more than one person and social difficulties may arise not just from people with ASD themselves, but also from the perceptions, judgments, and social decisions made by those around them. Here, across three studies, we find that first impressions of individuals with ASD made from thin slices of real-world social behavior by typically-developing observers are not only far less favorable across a range of trait judgments compared to controls, but also are associated with reduced intentions to pursue social interaction. These patterns are remarkably robust, occur within seconds, do not change with increased exposure, and persist across both child and adult age groups. However, these biases disappear when impressions are based on conversational content lacking audio-visual cues, suggesting that style, not substance, drives negative impressions of ASD. Collectively, these findings advocate for a broader perspective of social difficulties in ASD that considers both the individual’s impairments and the biases of potential social partners.
For your information:
(1) References in blue are resources listed on our site.
(2) Authors listed in this bibliography whose names are in color have published other resources referenced on the site. Clicking on the name allows you to see the list of resources they have published and shared on the site.
(3) Authors whose names are followed by an asterisk have publicly disclosed being autistic.
-
N. Ambady, R. Rosenthal (2005). "Thin slices of expressive behavior as predictors of interpersonal consequences: A meta-analysis.". Psychological Bulletin, 111(2). doi:10.1037/0033-2909.111.2.256
-
N. Bauminger, C. Kasari (2000). "Loneliness and Friendship in High‐Functioning Children with Autism". Child Development, 71(2). doi:10.1111/1467-8624.00156
-
H. Belch (2004). "Retention and Students with Disabilities". Journal of College Student Retention: Research, Theory & Practice, 6(1). doi:10.2190/mc5a-dhrv-1ghm-n0cd
-
S. Bellini, J. Peters, L. Benner, A. Hopf (2007). "A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Social Skills Interventions for Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders". Remedial and Special Education, 28(3). doi:10.1177/07419325070280030401
-
E. Billstedt, C. Gillberg, C. Gillberg (2005). "Autism after Adolescence: Population-based 13- to 22-year Follow-up Study of 120 Individuals with Autism Diagnosed in Childhood". J Autism Dev Disord, 35(3). doi:10.1007/s10803-005-3302-5
-
J. Blascovich, W. B. Mendes, S. B. Hunter, B. Lickel (2000). "Stigma, threat, and social interactions." In T. F. Heatherton (Ed.), The social psychology of stigma (pp. 307–333). Guilford Press.
-
D. Brainard (1997). "The Psychophysics Toolbox". Spatial Vis, 10(4). doi:10.1163/156856897x00357
-
G. Bromgard, W. Stephan (2006). "Responses to the Stigmatized: Disjunctions in Affect, Cognitions, and Behavior". J Applied Social Pyschol, 36(10). doi:10.1111/j.0021-9029.2006.00111.x
-
J. Campbell, J. Ferguson, C. Herzinger, J. Jackson, C. Marino (2004). "Combined descriptive and explanatory information improves peers' perceptions of autism". Research in Developmental Disabilities, 25(4). doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2004.01.005
-
J. Cotterell (1996). "Social Networks and Social Influence in Adolescence." Routledge.
-
A. de Marchena, I. Eigsti (2010). "Conversational gestures in autism spectrum disorders: Asynchrony but not decreased frequency". Autism Research, 3(6). doi:10.1002/aur.159
-
L. Dunn, D. Dunn (2012). "Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test--Fourth Edition". PsycTESTS Dataset. doi:10.1037/t15144-000
-
R. Edey, J. Cook, R. Brewer, M. Johnson*, G. Bird, C. Press (2016). "Interaction takes two: Typical adults exhibit mind-blindness towards those with autism spectrum disorder.". Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 125(7). doi:10.1037/abn0000199
-
D. Faso, N. Sasson, A. Pinkham (2015). "Evaluating Posed and Evoked Facial Expressions of Emotion from Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder". J Autism Dev Disord, 45(1). doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2194-7
-
U. Frith (2001). "Mind Blindness and the Brain in Autism". Neuron, 32(6). doi:10.1016/s0896-6273(01)00552-9
-
C. Gibson, D. Penn, M. Prinstein, D. Perkins, A. Belger (2010). "Social skill and social cognition in adolescents at genetic risk for psychosis". Schizophrenia Research, 122(1-3). doi:10.1016/j.schres.2010.04.018
-
R. Grossman, L. Edelson, H. Tager-Flusberg (2013). "Emotional Facial and Vocal Expressions During Story Retelling by Children and Adolescents With High-Functioning Autism". J Speech Lang Hear Res, 56(3). doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2012/12-0067)
-
R. Grossman, L. Edelson, H. Tager-Flusberg (2013). "Emotional Facial and Vocal Expressions During Story Retelling by Children and Adolescents With High-Functioning Autism". J Speech Lang Hear Res, 56(3). doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2012/12-0067)
-
R. Grossman, R. Bemis, D. Plesa Skwerer, H. Tager-Flusberg (2010). "Lexical and Affective Prosody in Children With High-Functioning Autism". J Speech Lang Hear Res, 53(3). doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2009/08-0127)
-
R. Grossman (2015). "Judgments of social awkwardness from brief exposure to children with and without high-functioning autism". Autism, 19(5). doi:10.1177/1362361314536937
-
T. Guha, Z. Yang, R. B. Grossman, S. S. Narayanan (2016). "A Computational Study of Expressive Facial Dynamics in Children with Autism." IEEE T Affect Comput, 1, 99.
-
A. Halberstadt, S. Denham, J. Dunsmore (2001). "Affective Social Competence". Social Development, 10(1). doi:10.1111/1467-9507.00150
-
M. Harnum, J. Duffy, D. Ferguson (2007). "Adults' Versus Children's Perceptions of a Child with Autism or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder". J Autism Dev Disord, 37(7). doi:10.1007/s10803-006-0273-0
-
P. Howlin, P. Moss, S. Savage, M. Rutter (2013). "Social Outcomes in Mid- to Later Adulthood Among Individuals Diagnosed With Autism and Average Nonverbal IQ as Children". Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 52(6). doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2013.02.017
-
L. Human, G. Sandstrom, J. Biesanz, E. Dunn (2013). "Accurate First Impressions Leave a Lasting Impression". Social Psychological and Personality Science, 4(4). doi:10.1177/1948550612463735
-
T. Hutchison (1995). "The classification of disability.". Archives of Disease in Childhood, 73(2). doi:10.1136/adc.73.2.91
-
D. Kennedy, R. Adolphs (2014). "Violations of Personal Space by Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder". PLoS ONE, 9(8). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0103369
-
N. Matthews, A. Ly, W. Goldberg (2015). "College Students' Perceptions of Peers with Autism Spectrum Disorder". J Autism Dev Disord, 45(1). doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2195-6
-
A. Metallinou, R. Grossman, S. Narayanan (2013). "Quantifying atypicality in affective facial expressions of children with autism spectrum disorders". 2013 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo (ICME). doi:10.1109/icme.2013.6607640
-
D. E. M. Milton* (2013). "Filling in the gaps: A micro-sociological analysis of autism." Autonomy, the Critical Journal of Interdisciplinary Autism Studies, 1.
-
A. Nadig, I. Lee, L. Singh, K. Bosshart, S. Ozonoff (2010). "How does the topic of conversation affect verbal exchange and eye gaze? A comparison between typical development and high-functioning autism". Neuropsychologia, 48(9). doi:10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2010.05.020
-
D. Neumann, M. Spezio, J. Piven, R. Adolphs (2006). "Looking you in the mouth: abnormal gaze in autism resulting from impaired top-down modulation of visual attention". Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 1(3). doi:10.1093/scan/nsl030
-
R. Nevill, S. White (2011). "College Students' Openness Toward Autism Spectrum Disorders: Improving Peer Acceptance". J Autism Dev Disord, 41(12). doi:10.1007/s10803-011-1189-x
-
T. Obafemi-Ajayi, J. Miles, T. Nicole Takahashi, W. Qi, K. Aldridge, M. Zhang, S. Xin, Y. He, Y. Duan (2015). "Facial Structure Analysis Separates Autism Spectrum Disorders into Meaningful Clinical Subgroups". J Autism Dev Disord, 45(5). doi:10.1007/s10803-014-2290-8
-
M. Oliver (1990). "The Ideological Construction of Disability". The Politics of Disablement. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-20895-1_4
-
T. F. Pettigrew, L. R. Tropp (2000). "Does intergroup contact reduce prejudice? Recent meta-analytic findings." In S. Oskamp (Ed.), Reducing prejudice and discrimination: Social psychological perspectives (pp. 93–114). Psychology Press.
-
G. Roid, L. Miller (2012). "Leiter-R". PsycTESTS Dataset. doi:10.1037/t05120-000
-
N. Sasson, A. Pinkham, K. Carpenter, A. Belger (2011). "The benefit of directly comparing autism and schizophrenia for revealing mechanisms of social cognitive impairment". J Neurodevelop Disord, 3(2). doi:10.1007/s11689-010-9068-x
-
E. Schopler, R. J. Reichler, B. R. Renner (2002). "The childhood autism rating scale (CARS)." Western Psychological Services, Los Angeles.
-
P. Shattuck, S. Carter Narendorf, B. Cooper, P. Sterzing, M. Wagner, J. Lounds Taylor (2012). "Postsecondary Education and Employment Among Youth With an Autism Spectrum Disorder". Pediatrics, 129(6). doi:10.1542/peds.2011-2864
-
E. Sheppard, D. Pillai, G. Tze-Lynn Wong, D. Ropar, P. Mitchell (2016). "How Easy is it to Read the Minds of People with Autism Spectrum Disorder?". J Autism Dev Disord, 46(4). doi:10.1007/s10803-015-2662-8
-
M. Snyder, A. Stukas (1999). "INTERPERSONAL PROCESSES: The Interplay of Cognitive, Motivational, and Behavioral Activities in Social Interaction". Annu. Rev. Psychol., 50(1). doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.50.1.273
-
K. Swaim, S. Morgan (2001). "Children’s attitudes and behavioral intentions toward a peer with autistic behaviors: does a brief educational intervention have an effect?". Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31(2). doi:10.1023/a:1010703316365
-
J. Lounds Taylor, M. Mailick Seltzer (2010). "Changes in the Autism Behavioral Phenotype During the Transition to Adulthood". J Autism Dev Disord, 40(12). doi:10.1007/s10803-010-1005-z
-
M. Tobin, K. D.R. Drager, L. Richardson (2014). "A systematic review of social participation for adults with autism spectrum disorders: Support, social functioning, and quality of life". Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 8(3). doi:10.1016/j.rasd.2013.12.002
-
D. White, A. Hillier, A. Frye, E. Makrez (2019). "College students' knowledge and attitudes towards students on the autism spectrum." J Autism Dev Disord, 49(7), 2699-2705, doi:10.1007/s10803-016-2818-1
-
J. Willis, A. Todorov (2006). "First Impressions". Psychol Sci, 17(7). doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01750.x
This resource is cited in 17 resources referenced on the site:
- Laura Hull & coll. (2017, en), "'Putting on my best normal': Social camouflaging in adults with autism spectrum conditions".
- Sue Fletcher-Watson & coll. (2019, en), "Making the future together: shaping autism research through meaningful participation".
- Kerrianne Morrison & coll. (2020, en), "Outcomes of real-world social interaction for autistic adults paired with autistic compared to typically developing partners".
- Catherine Crompton & coll. (2020, en), "Autistic peer-to-peer information transfer is highly effective".
- Patrick Dwyer (2022, en), "The neurodiversity approach(es): what are they and what do they mean for researchers?".
- Monique Botha & coll. (2022, en), "'Autism is me': an investigation of how autistic individuals make sense of autism and stigma".
- Elizabeth Pellicano & coll. (2022, en), "Shifting from 'normal science' to neurodiversity in autism science".
- Heta Pukki & coll. (2022, en), "Autistic perspectives on the future of clinical autism research".
- Elizabeth Pellicano & coll. (2022, en), "A capabilities approach to understanding and supporting autistic adulthood".
- Damian Milton & coll. (2022, en), "The ‘double empathy problem’: Ten years on".
- Laura Anderson (2023, en), "Autistic experiences of applied behavior analysis".
- Rosemarie Wilson & coll. (2023, en), "Autistic women’s experiences of self-compassion after receiving their diagnosis in adulthood".
- Kristen Bottema-Beutel & coll. (2023, en), "Anti-ableism and scientific accuracy in autism research: a false dichotomy".
- Holly Sutherland & coll. (2024, en), "'A difference in typical values': autistic perspectives on autistic social communication".
- Max Read & coll. (2024, en), "Supporting autistic refugees in the UK using the HOPE(S) model".
- Holly Sutherland & coll. (2024, en), "'Read my lips, not my body': a thematic analysis of autistic people’s social communication preferences".
- Mathieu Giroux & coll. (2024, en), "Social camouflage in autism: An analysis of decision making".
Summarize/Comment on/Translate this reference?