Autism as narrow extreme systematizing

[Kelly Jones]

I'm a bit skeptical of the EQ-SQ tests, but the theory behind it seems fairly reasonable. Simon Baron-Cohen is a researcher on autism, and recognises that autists are "extreme systematizers", more often male, and, more pertinently, that systematizers are in general male.

His theory of so-called mind-blindness as the opposite of empathy is also interesting, regardless of any links to autism or other disorders.

Perhaps, when people complain of linear, logical thinking, they have autists in mind, whose use of logic is narrow and very restricted, in order to block out the alarming experience of chaos.


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[Diebert van Rhijn]

From the Guardian article: "Empathising is the drive to identify another person's emotions and thoughts, and to respond to these with an appropriate emotion."

This reminded me of Daniel M. Gross calling emotions "internalized" forms of currency. Which is interesting in the light of calling the female brain hard-wired for it (currency). The article then states: "women are more likely to spend hours happily engaged in coffee mornings or pot-luck suppers, advising friends on relationship problems, or caring for friends, neighbors, or pets." Hey, and then people call this forum negative about women! Anyway the list would leave out shopping and planning redecoration or extending ones housing (shopping is said to take 8 years of an average women's life). Not that much time left for empathy!

But what about the male extreme, the "impaired empathising"? To call this the "extreme" male brain is already to invent a sliding scale of factors, empathizing and systematizing, which are not proven to be correlated at all. What might then be the cause of the condition of autism? It's more likely there's a neurological impairment in lower lying communication or cognition and not just socializing. Because this causes a block also for the exchange of emotion, naturally the 'male brain' can develop strongly only let down by a lack of communicative skills which will interfere with most functioning and participation in groups, but not just because emotions are not registered.

Now one could argue that empathy is needed as core element of all effective communication. This might be true but empathy should be seen as a more encompassing ability to understand or imaginatively entering (Collins Dictionary) the situation of the other. This could include emotional states but naturally extends to motives, feelings, needs and trouble by the art of self-identification.

[pierdog]

Diebert, good points but just forget the Jew Gross and ANY Jew that didn't kill himself, he relates everything to currency...big surprise. Kelly, as for autism, it's just a lack of connectivity between brain hemispheres, for which the linear thinking, fixations and rituals compensate to bring needed internal order externally, making the Autistic Subconscious a mess and their Conscious Self neurotic. Mixing races and racial subtypes may help increase autistic/asperger births.

[Anders Schlander]

I liked the article about autism. The EQ test however, was more focused, I thought, on egotistical relationships, and thus selfish questions, rather than geniune compassion. I scored relatively low, but about average.

It's natural, atleast for me, to put things into logical systems. It helps to catagorize things, and make sense of things, and I can't imagine how this is seperate from geniune empathy. That's what i fail to grasp, why are they seperate? surely, logical systemization is part of trying to understand and help other people. Even emotions need to be systemized to some degree.

I got an extremely high systemization score, but I just think it's natural for the a person interested in cause and effect, it is not super narrow, it is not an over-compensation for chaos, so i wouldn't call myself autistic.