Great Expectations: The Role of Rules in Guiding Pro-social Behaviour in Groups with High Versus Low Autistic Traits

Overview

Journal J Autism Dev Disord

Publisher Springer

Date 2015 Feb 21

PMID 25697738

Citations 9

Authors

Leila Jameel

Karishma Vyas

Giulia Bellesi

Diana Cassell

Shelley Channon

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Measuring autistic traits in the general population has proven sensitive for examining cognition. The present study extended this to pro-social behaviour, investigating the influence of expectations to help others. A novel task describing characters in need of help was administered to students scoring high versus low on the Autism-Spectrum Quotient. Scenarios had two variants, describing either a 'clear-cut' or 'ambiguous' social rule. Participants with high versus low autistic traits were less pro-social and sympathetic overall towards the characters. The groups' ratings of characters' expectations were comparable, but those with high autistic traits provided more rule-based rationales in the clear-cut condition. This pattern of relatively intact knowledge in the context of reduced pro-social behaviour has implications for social skill training programmes.

Citing Articles

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Autistic Traits and Prosocial Behaviour in the General Population: Test of the Mediating Effects of Trait Empathy and State Empathic Concern.

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Initial evidence that non-clinical autistic traits are associated with lower income.

Skylark W, Baron-Cohen S Mol Autism. 2017; 8:61.

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