Development of Moral Judgments in Impersonal and Personal Dilemmas in Autistic Spectrum Disorders from Childhood to Late Adolescence

Abstract

A potential underlying mechanism associated with the difficulties in social interactions in Autistic Spectrum Disorders (ASD) concerns the abnormal development of moral reasoning. The present study examined utilitarian and deontological judgments in impersonal and personal moral dilemmas, comparing 66 individuals with ASD and 61 typically developing (TD) individuals between 6 and 18 years. Utilitarian judgments decreased with age. This decline was much more gradual for personal dilemmas in the ASD than in the TD group. ASD individuals rated utilitarian judgments as more appropriate but felt less calm, consistent with the Empathy Imbalance hypothesis. Utilitarian judgments were associated with social interaction difficulties in ASD. These findings identify possible social therapeutic targets for more efficient coping strategies in individuals with ASD.

Keywords: Autistic spectrum disorders; Dual-process theory; Empathy; Moral dilemma; Social cognition.

Fig. 1

Flow diagram describing the recruitment process, the exclusion determinants, and the patients who completed the study

Fig. 2

Partial dependence plots for the probability of a utilitarian response over age, separately for personal and impersonal dilemmas, for TD individuals (left panel) and individuals with ASD (right panel)

Fig. 3

Appropriateness and calmness after utilitarian responses for each dilemma in each participant group

Fig. 4

Association between the probability of a utilitarian response in the personal dilemma and the ADI-R social interaction score in the ASD group

Fig. 5

Examples of the pictograms that were used for the self-report