Into the looking glass: Discerning the social mind through the mindblind

Abstract

Autism results in an asocial mind, and hence, is a disorder worthy of the attention of social psychologists, sociologists and economists. Work in developmental psychology and neuroscience reveals that autistic individuals have a faulty theory of mind and cannot take the attitude of the other. The “mindblind” have a disablement of the neurally-based sympathetic system: they manifest deficits in imitation, in emotional contagion, in understanding the thoughts, desires and plans of other people, in pretending and in conversation. The same intertwined set of deficits is present when, on occasion, non-autists lose their mindseeing abilities. A theory of mind and sympathy are shown to be critical to a variety of forms of social interaction.