The behaviours, thinking styles, and social characteristics of someone with autism differ from neurotypical people. Research has attempted to establish the fundamental aspects of these behaviours in autism and how they are expressed, from biological to psychological theories. Here, we will discuss the psychological theories of autism.
- We will start by exploring the theories and models for autism.
- Specifically, we will delve into the three cognitive theories of autism.
- Then, we will look at some theory of mind autism tests often used in research and clinical settings.
- After, we will investigate autism and the theory of mind in psychology ethics.
- Finally, we will quickly overview the social theories of autism.
Theories and Models for Autism
Psychological theories and models for autism explain the underlying psychological processes of autism, including:
- Social functioning
- Stereotyped and repetitive behavioural patterns
- Language and communication
Baron-Cohen et al. (2001) revised and improved the ‘reading the mind in the eyes’ test with autistic adults, where they’d see a picture of someone’s eyes and have to say what emotion the person was feeling.
Autistic adults had more difficulty and had more incorrect answers than control participants. Therefore, Baron-Cohen the empathising-systemising theory which suggests that autistic people have problems empathising.
Empathising is recognising or understanding other people’s emotions and reacting appropriately.
This problem leads to difficulties in making friends and interacting.
People with autism also tend to be drawn to things with rules and systems, e.g. math, physics, and technology, i.e. systemising (Baron-Cohen, 2009). Therefore, autistic people have a ‘low empathising/high systemising’ profile (compared to medium levels of both for neurotypicals).
Finally, some theories and models for autism aim to explain why people with autism tend to understand language literally and struggle to detect complex language such as sarcasm. Happé (1994) investigated how autistic people interpret non-literal speech by having them read a story containing irony and then asking questions about it.
Ann’s mother gives her dinner, but Ann doesn’t say thank you or even look away from the TV. Ann’s mother says, ‘Well, that’s very nice. That’s what I call politeness!’ They were asked:
- Is what Ann’s mother said true?
- Why did Ann’s mother say that?
While autistic people could detect it wasn’t true, they couldn’t state why she could have been saying it, e.g., to joke around or teach Ann a lesson.
Three Cognitive Theories of Autism
There are three main cognitive theories of autism:
Executive dysfunction
Weak central coherence
Theory of mind
The first explains the social characteristics of autism, while the latter two describe the non-social characteristics of autism.
Theories of Autism: Executive Dysfunction
Demetriou et al. (2017) conducted a meta-analysis of executive dysfunction. Their results suggested that the non-social characteristics were due to executive function problems, establishing that those with autism spectrum disorder had a broad executive dysfunction issue that is mostly stable they develop.
Executive function is the mental capacity to organise thoughts and actions to meet goals. It is the cognitive process we use to control our behaviours.
Executive functions include the mental capabilities needed to complete and shift between tasks and think of new things. One of the main tests of executive function that autistic people have difficulty with is the Tower of Hanoi Test.
Tower of Hanoi Autism Test
Craig and Baron-Cohen (1999) tested the creativity of their participants in three studies using the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking (TTCT). Participants came up with ideas, but the neurotypical child’s ideas included a greater and richer range of suggestions.
The initial state of the Tower of Hanoi.
The expected final state of the Tower of Hanoi.
Theories of Autism: Weak Central Coherence (WCC)
The weak central coherence cognitive theory of autism says that autistic individuals fail to engage in cognitive gestalt. In other words, they process the information on a local level rather than a global level.
For instance, if confronted with many buildings centralised in one area of a map, a person engaged in global processing would understand it was a city.
However, a person engaged in local processing would see a lot of buildings and not understand the overall concept.
The WCC is evidenced by the embedded figures test in which the participant must find a simple shape embedded in a larger picture of irrelevant scene images. Autistic children would be shown this image and have to answer: ‘can you pick out a shape within the figure that matches the small triangle exactly?’
People with ASD find this shape quicker than neurotypical people, focusing on the details rather than the whole picture, i.e. local processing. Weak central coherence can explain the narrow focus on specific interests and the adherence to familiar routines. This may not matter to a neurotypical person but can cause extreme anxiety in an autistic person.
Local processing in autistic people could cause issues with tasks that a neurotypical person would have no problem with, e.g., combining separate sentences to form a coherent story.
However, local processing in autistic people could also cause them to have advantages over neurotypicals too by helping them perform some tasks better, e.g. picking out defects in items on a production line in a factory.
Theories of Autism: Theory of Mind (ToM)
Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (1983) investigated the reason why autistic children and adults often:
Misunderstand social situations;
They cannot put themselves in other people’s shoes;
Are unaware others have different feelings, thoughts, knowledge, and beliefs from them.
Understanding false beliefs is vital to understanding others’ thoughts and beliefs; this is often referred to as the theory of mind (ToM)
Theory of mind (ToM) is about perceiving other people’s mental states, beliefs, intentions, feelings, etc.
Autistic people have difficulties with ToM, which is often linked to them thinking literally, leading to difficulties understanding non-literal speech, e.g. sarcasm or irony.
Theory of Mind: Autism Test
To determine if a person has autism, clinicians may conduct a theory of mind autism test. These tests are often based on a series of studies by Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (1983) called the Sally-Anne False Belief Task.
Sally-Anne False Belief Task
The Sally-Anne False Belief task checks if children with autism can understand false beliefs. Neurotypically developed children aged 4–5 can primarily identify that Sally has a false belief about where the marble is.
In this task, two theoretical children, Sally and Anne, are said to be in a room. Sally has a basket, and Anne has a box. Before leaving the room, Sally places a marble into her basket and covers it with a blanket.
Anne then takes the marble out of the basket, covers it back up, and places the item in her box. Sally returns, and the children have to answer the belief question: ‘Where will Sally look for her marble?’
The correct response is that Sally will look in the basket since it’s where she thinks the marble is. She won’t look in the box (i.e. the place where it actually is) because she wasn’t there when Anne changed the location. Sally’s belief does not correlate with reality, and understanding this is a core aspect of the theory of mind.
People with autism, however, are likely not to complete the task correctly. For instance, they may not recognise that Sally has a false belief about the location of the marble.
Autism and the Theory of Mind in Psychology: Ethics
There are no particular ethical problems with ToM research because informed consent was obtained from the parents of the child participants (since they cannot give full informed consent themselves). In addition, participants and their parents had the right to terminate the study at any time.
No materials or methods that could cause psychological or physical harm were used in the study, so they were protected from this.
Their identities were kept confidential, they were interviewed, and there was no deception about any part of the study.
Concerns have been raised that all children with autism were lumped together in the conclusions of the findings. Recent research on ToM and ASD (autism spectrum disorder) children shows that some autistic children do quite well in the ToM category.
It is neither fair nor accurate to conclude that ASD children have no concept of ToM but that it exists on a spectrum.
Social Theories of Autism
There are several social theories of autism that researchers and psychologists have uncovered. So far, we’ve discussed the cognitive aspects of the theory of mind. However, often considered a social-cognitive theory, ToM can also be considered one of several social theories of autism and the social motivation theory of autism.
Social Theories of Autism: ToM
A key component in ToM as a social learning theory of autism is the mirror neuron system.
The Mirror neuron system (MNS) is a group of specialised neurons that can mirror actions that others perform.
Social learning is when knowledge or behaviours are transferred from one person to another through observation and imitation. The MNS is activated when we generate a behavioural response to actions and gestures we observe. When activated, it helps us learn about others’ emotions and behaviours.
Researchers have found that the MNS in individuals with autism is not activated as frequently as in neurotypical individuals.
This theory offers another social explanation for why individuals with ASD struggle to understand another’s perspective.
Social Theories of Autism: Social Motivation Theory
The social motivation theory is a more outdated theory that suggests individuals of the autism spectrum find social stimuli, such as conversing with others, less rewarding than neurotypical people.
Therefore, individuals with ASD are less likely to engage and seek social stimuli.
fMRI research investigating brain regions associated with reward processing has shown mixed results; therefore, the theory’s reliability and validity is often questioned.
Psychological Theories of Autism - Key takeaways
- There are three cognitive theories of autism: theory of mind, executive dysfunction, and weak central coherence.
- A theory of mind autism test is the Sally-Anne false belief task.
- The Tower of Hanoi test is used to check executive function and autistic people struggle greatly with it since they find it hard to devise a strategy to transfer all the rings while not breaking the rules of the test.
- Weak central coherence consists of good attention to detail and difficulty grasping the most important parts of an idea or concept.
- The social theories of autism include the mirror neuron system and the social motivation theory.
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