Autistic traits and self‐conscious emotions in early childhood

Abstract

Self‐conscious emotions arise from evaluating the self through the eyes of others. Given that children with autistic traits may experience difficulties with understanding others' minds, they might show less attuned self‐conscious emotions. Two‐to‐five‐year‐old children's (N = 98, Mage = 48.54 months, 50% girls, 92% White) self‐conscious emotions (guilt, embarrassment, and shame‐like avoidance) were observed after children “broke” the experimenter's favorite toy. Data were collected from March 2018 till June 2019. Children with more autistic traits showed less theory of mind (ToM), and more shame‐like avoidance, but associations were not mediated by ToM. This provides initial evidence that children with more autistic traits may show disturbances in some but not all self‐conscious emotions, which could hinder their social functioning.

Observing the Maxim of Quality: Examining an Autistic Doctor’s Conversations in an American Television Series, The Good Doctor

“…The speaker asked Aster for forgiveness. Individuals with ASD, on the other hand, will never be able to mitigate the threats of such an apology (van Trigt et al, 2023). The distinction is that people with ASD may appear to threaten their hearer's face rather than their own face.…”