Neurotypical Peers are Less Willing to Interact with Those with Autism based on Thin Slice Judgments

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), including those who otherwise require less support, face severe difficulties in everyday social interactions. Research in this area has primarily focused on identifying the cognitive and neurological differences that contribute to these social impairments, but social interaction by definition involves more than one person and social difficulties may arise not just from people with ASD themselves, but also from the perceptions, judgments, and social decisions made by those around them. Here, across three studies, we find that first impressions of individuals with ASD made from thin slices of real-world social behavior by typically-developing observers are not only far less favorable across a range of trait judgments compared to controls, but also are associated with reduced intentions to pursue social interaction. These patterns are remarkably robust, occur within seconds, do not change with increased exposure, and persist across both child and adult age groups. However, these biases disappear when impressions are based on conversational content lacking audio-visual cues, suggesting that style, not substance, drives negative impressions of ASD. Collectively, these findings advocate for a broader perspective of social difficulties in ASD that considers both the individual’s impairments and the biases of potential social partners.

Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are characterized by impairments in social interaction that contribute to broad social disabilities and poor functional outcomes1. Across the lifespan, these impairments are associated with smaller social networks and fewer friendships2, difficulty securing and retaining employment3, high rates of loneliness4, and an overall reduced quality of life2. Such poor outcomes persist even for individuals with ASD who have average to above average intelligence5.

Researchers have long investigated the cognitive and neural differences that contribute to social interaction impairments in ASD6. Such work has been invaluable for highlighting behavioral and biological mechanisms of social disability in ASD that may serve as primary targets for treatment. However, social interaction quality is not only predicated upon social ability but also social expression7, and many aspects of social presentation are atypical in ASD, including abnormal facial expressivity8,9,10, anomalous use of gaze11, lower rates or unusual timing of expressive gestures12, violations of personal space13, and unusual vocal prosody14. These differences in social presentation may affect social interaction quality. Unfamiliar observers judge expressions made by individuals with ASD as more awkward or odd8,15 and such evaluative judgments could potentially affect interaction quality or even reduce intentions to initiate social interaction altogether. In this way, social interaction impairments in ASD may not only be an individual impairment, but also a relational one16 in which the perspectives of others affect the quantity and quality of the social experiences of those with ASD. Indeed, although it has long been established that those with ASD struggle to interpret the mental states of other people17, recent findings suggest that neurotypical individuals likewise have difficulty interpreting the mental states of those with ASD18,19. Thus, difficulties with social interaction for individuals with ASD may be a bidirectional problem, not just an individual one.

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https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5286449/