Autism and Moral Responsibility: Executive Function, Reasons Responsiveness, and Reasons Blockage

Richman, Kenneth A.

doi:10.1007/s12152-017-9341-8

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Our study was the first to investigate moral foundations theory in autistic and neurotypical children. Our findings that autistic children's moral reasoning differs only subtly from that of neurotypical children contributes to our understanding of moral agency in autism and challenges assertions by some that autistic individuals have limited moral agency (e.g., Richman, 2018). Future studies could use longitudinal methods to track the development of moral foundations predilections and recommendations for punishment to further refine our understanding of moral development in typical development and in autism.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Moral Foundations Theory Among Autistic and Neurotypical Children

et al. 2022

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Morality can help guide behavior and facilitate relationships. Although moral judgments by autistic people are similar to neurotypical individuals, many researchers argue that subtle differences signify deficits in autistic individuals. Moral foundation theory describes moral judgments in terms of differences rather than deficits. The current research, aimed at assessing autistic individuals’ moral inclinations using Haidt’s framework, was co-designed with autistic community members. Our aim was to describe autistic moral thinking from a strengths-based perspective while acknowledging differences that may pose interpersonal challenges among autistic youth. We assessed 25 autistic and 23 neurotypical children’s moral judgments using the Moral Foundations Questionnaire for Kids. We used semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis with a subset of participants to describe children’s moral reasoning. Analyses suggested that autistic and neurotypical children make similar judgments about moral transgressions across all five moral foundations. General linear mixed modeling showed that the greatest predictor of recommending punishment was how bad children deemed moral transgressions to be. We also found a trend that autistic children were more likely to recommend punishment for harmless norms violations than were neurotypical children. Future research could use longitudinal methods to understand the development of moral judgments among autistic and neurotypical children.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 63%

Moral Foundations Theory Among Autistic and Neurotypical Children

et al. 2022

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“…Of course, neurotypicals also frequently fail to exercise practical reason in an appropriate way, so the difference is better conceptualized as one of degree. As Kenneth Richman argues, when neurotypicals are tired, stressed, or even lonely they may ‘…simply not register facts or fail to perceive options even when they are paying appropriate attention’ (Richman, 2018, p. 29). That is, neurotypicals also fail to pay attention to a moral problem or to reason regarding others’ emotional needs.…”

Section: How We Go Wrong In Our Moral Judgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…That is, neurotypicals also fail to pay attention to a moral problem or to reason regarding others’ emotional needs. In this way, Richman argues, ‘…autists are not different in kind from neurotypical people, just subject to more of the common sorts of moral frailties’ (Richman, 2018, p. 29) 4…”

Section: How We Go Wrong In Our Moral Judgmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Practical Wisdom and the Value of Cognitive Diversity

Jefferson

Sifferd

2022

Roy. Inst. Philos. Suppl.

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The challenges facing us today require practical wisdom to allow us to react appropriately. In this paper, we argue that at a group level, we will make better decisions if we respect and take into account the moral judgment of agents with diverse styles of cognition and moral reasoning. We show this by focusing on the example of autism, highlighting different strengths and weaknesses of moral reasoning found in autistic and non-autistic persons respectively.

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“…Executive competency, or volitional competency, relates to people's ability to react to reasons. 14 If a person has both the cognitive capacities and the volitional capacities required, they will be considered normatively competent. 15 Those who lack such capacities are not considered normatively competent, and so will not be considered morally responsible for their actions.…”

Section: Fiachra O'brolchain and Bert Gordijinmentioning

confidence: 99%

Responsibility-Enhancing Assistive Technologies and People with Autism

O’Brolcháin¹,

Gordijn²

2020

Camb Q Healthc Ethics

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This paper aims to explore the role assistive technologies (ATs) might play in helping people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and a concomitant responsibility deficit become more morally responsible. Toward this goal, the authors discuss the philosophical concept of responsibility, with a reliance on Nicole Vincent’s taxonomy of responsibility concepts. They then outline the ways in which ASD complicates ascriptions of responsibility, particularly responsibility understood as a capacity. Further, they explore the ways in which ATs might improve a person’s capacity so that responsibility can be properly ascribed to them. After demonstrating that although assistive technologies are likely to be able to enhance a person’s capacity in such a way so that responsibility can be ascribed to them, the authors assert that these technologies will have a number of additional effects on the other aspects of the concept of responsibility.

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Autism and Moral Responsibility: Executive Function, Reasons Responsiveness, and Reasons Blockage

Cited by 8 publications

References 50 publications

Moral Foundations Theory Among Autistic and Neurotypical Children

Moral Foundations Theory Among Autistic and Neurotypical Children

Practical Wisdom and the Value of Cognitive Diversity

Responsibility-Enhancing Assistive Technologies and People with Autism

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