Do Neurotypical People Like or Dislike Autistic People?

Abstract

Background: This study investigated whether neurotypical individuals' judgments that they dislike a person are more common when viewing autistic individuals than when viewing neurotypical individuals.

Methods: Videos of autistic and neurotypical targets were presented to a group of perceivers (neurotypical adults) who were asked whether or not they liked each target and why.

Results: It was more common for perceivers to "like" neurotypical than autistic targets. The number of "likes" each target received correlated highly with perceiver ratings of target social favorability. Perceivers cited perceived awkwardness and lack of empathy as being reasons for deciding they disliked targets.

Conclusions: The findings shed light on how neurotypical people (mis)perceive autistic people. Such perceptions may act as a barrier to social integration for autistic people.

Lay summary: Why was this study done?: Previous research has found that nonautistic people tend to form less positive first impressions of autistic people than they do of other nonautistic people. These studies have tended to present questions such as "How trustworthy is this person?" or "How attractive is this person?" along with ratings scales. However, although it is known that nonautistic people tend to give lower ratings on these scales, we do not know whether this amounts to a dislike for autistic people or just lower levels of liking.What was the purpose of this study?: This study aimed to find out whether nonautistic people are less likely to say they like (and more likely to say they dislike) autistic people than other nonautistic people.What did the researchers do?: The researchers presented videos of autistic and nonautistic people to other nonautistic adults. The people watching the videos were not told that some of the people in the videos were autistic. They were asked to decide whether they liked or disliked the person in each video and to say why they had made their decision by choosing from a range of options.What were the results of the study?: Nonautistic people were more likely to say they disliked the person in the video if they were autistic, even though they did not know the diagnosis. The most common reasons for disliking a person was that they appeared awkward, and that they appeared to lack empathy.What do these findings add to what was already known?: It was already known that nonautistic people tend to rate autistic people less positively on ratings scales. This study suggests that when making judgments-of either liking or disliking-they will sometimes go so far as to say they dislike autistic people.What are potential weaknesses in the study?: All of the people in the video clips were male, while those watching the videos were mainly female. Therefore, we do not know whether the same observations would be made for perceptions of autistic females. The number of participants watching the videos was relatively small: a larger sample would give more reliable findings.How will these findings help autistic adults now or in the future?: The findings add to previous research showing nonautistic people's misperceptions of autistic people could be a barrier to social integration for autistic people. They highlight the need for interventions at the societal level aimed at reducing misunderstanding and promoting tolerance.

Keywords: autism; mind reading; person perception; social favorability; social interaction.

FIG. 1.

Mean number of “likes” (out of 30) received by autistic and neurotypical targets. Each target participated in four scenarios. The error bars represent one standard error of the mean.

FIG. 2.

The frequency count of social favorability items selected by perceivers when justifying their judgment that they liked or disliked autistic and neurotypical targets.