Socially interested, or socially sophisticated? On mutual social influence in autism

d’Arc, Baudouin Forgeot; Soulières, Isabelle

doi:10.1017/s0140525x18002510

Cited by 6 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…At the brain level, likeability ratings were represented in a similar BVS, with an activation peak in the vmPFC. These findings argue against a general motivation deficit affecting the valuation process itself, as suggested in some previous studies [ 17 , 34 , 35 ]. Such a general account would predict an alteration of reward processing in autism, which would result in incentive motivation and reward learning deficits at the behavioral level, and to reduced response to rewards at the brain level, irrespective of the type of stimuli and task used.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Absence of covert face valuation in Autism

2021

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Autism is a neurodevelopmental condition defined on clinical criteria related to diminished social reciprocity and stereotyped behavior. An influential view explains autism as a social motivation disorder characterized by less attention paid to the social environment and less pleasure experienced with social rewards. However, experimental attempts to validate this theory, by testing the impact of social reward on behavioral choice and brain activity, has yielded mixed results, possibly due to variations in how explicit instructions were about task goals. Here, we specified the putative motivation deficit as an absence of spontaneous valuation in the social domain, unexplained by inattention and correctible by explicit instruction. Since such deficit cannot be assessed with behavioral measures, we used functional neuroimaging (fMRI) to readout covert subjective values, assigned to social and nonsocial stimuli (faces and objects), either explicitly asked to participants (during a likeability judgment task) or not (during age or size estimation tasks). Value-related neural activity observed for objects, or for faces under explicit instructions, was very similar in autistic and control participants, with an activation peak in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), known as a key node of the brain valuation system. The only difference observed in autistic participants was an absence of the spontaneous valuation normally triggered by faces, even when they were attended for age estimation. Our findings, therefore, suggest that in autism, social stimuli might fail to trigger the automatic activation of the brain valuation system.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Absence of covert face valuation in Autism

2021

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“…Related to the concept of social motivation, mutual social influence refers to the tendency of individuals to influence, and be influenced by, their social environment ( Forgeot d’Arc & Soulières, 2019 ). Participants’ accounts emphasised the role of mutual social influence in camouflaging such that they sought to manage others’ perceptions of them by portraying a non-autistic social presentation because, based on their past social experiences, they believed doing so would lead others to value social interaction and relationships with them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Camouflaging in an everyday social context: An interpersonal recall study

Cook

Crane

Bourne

et al. 2021

Autism

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Camouflaging is a social phenomenon operating within everyday social interactions of autistic and non-autistic people. The current study explored autistic adults’ camouflaging in an everyday social context via interpersonal process recall methodology (Kegan, 1969). A total of 17 autistic adults (8 females, 6 males and 3 agender/gender-neutral individuals) participated in a 10-min controlled social task designed to replicate a common day-to-day social situation. Participants then watched a video of their interaction with a researcher, actively identifying instances of camouflaging and discussing their experiences of camouflaging. Using thematic analysis, four themes were generated: (1) a strong desire for, yet uncertainty in, securing social acceptance and connection; (2) camouflaging, developed over time, as a means to achieve social acceptance and connection; (3) experiencing intrapersonal and interpersonal camouflaging consequences during social interactions; and (4) authentic socialising as an alternative to camouflaging. These findings are discussed with reference to the existing literature on stigma management outside the field of autism. Lay abstract Many autistic people report that, despite personal costs, they use strategies to hide their autistic characteristics or appear non-autistic at work, school or university, when speaking with health professionals, or while socialising with certain friends and family members. These strategies are often referred to as camouflaging. This study explores camouflaging during everyday social interactions. A total of 17 autistic adults were filmed taking part in a common everyday social situation – a conversation with a stranger. They then watched the video of this conversation with a researcher and answered questions about camouflaging. These autistic people told us that they (1) had a strong desire to socialise with and be valued by other people but, because of negative past experiences, they often felt unsure about their ability to do so; (2) used camouflaging to help them to socialise and be valued by others; (3) experienced negative consequences when camouflaging (e.g. fatigue, anxiety and difficulties in friendships); and (4) sometimes socialised in more autistic ways instead of camouflaging. This study shows us how autistic people often change their behaviour because of the way they are treated by nonautistic people and that autistic people may benefit from programmes that help them to socialise in more authentically autistic ways, but only if their autistic social behaviour is met with understanding and acceptance from non-autistic people.

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“…The way in which an individual is perceived and treated by their social partner/s during any given social interaction depends on a complex interplay of factors related to both the individual and their social partner/s as well as the circumstances of the social interaction (Cuddy, Fiske, & Glick, 2008; Morrison et al, 2019; Xie, Flake, & Hehman, 2019). Nevertheless, individuals influence, and are influenced by, the behaviour of their social partner/s (De Jaegher, 2013; Forgeot d’Arc & Soulières, 2019). Research with non-autistic people suggests that distinct subtypes of verbal and non-verbal behaviours function within specific interpersonal situations to invite distinct interpersonal reactions and behaviours from others.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Self-reported camouflaging behaviours used by autistic adults during everyday social interactions

Cook

Crane

Hull

et al. 2021

Autism

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Autistic people may camouflage their innate autistic social behaviours to adapt to, cope within and/or influence the predominately neurotypical social landscape. This study describes behaviours exhibited, altered or avoided by autistic adults whilst camouflaging (i.e. camouflaging behaviours). Using Interpersonal Process Recall methodology, 17 autistic adults (8 women, 6 men and 3 agender/gender neutral individuals) participated in a brief social task designed to replicate a common day-to-day social situation. Participants then watched a video of their interaction with a researcher, actively identifying and describing camouflaging behaviours. Using qualitative content analysis, descriptions of 38 camouflaging behaviours described by participants were clustered into four main categories and seven subcategories: (1) masking, (2) innocuous engagement (subcategories: passive encouragement, centring social partner, deferential engagement and reducing social risk), (3) modelling neurotypical communication and (4) active self-presentation (subcategories: reciprocal social behaviours, risky social behaviours, and comfortable and familiar social behaviours). The novel use of Interpersonal Process Recall methodology addressed limitations in existing camouflaging research and facilitated the identification of previously unreported camouflaging behaviours. These camouflaging behaviours are discussed with reference to literature concerning interpersonal research and theory within and outside the field of autism. Lay abstract Camouflaging can be thought of as the process through which autistic people modify their natural social behaviours to adapt to, cope within or influence the largely neurotypical (non-autistic) social world. Many autistic people experience negative reactions to their natural or intuitive social behaviours when interacting with non-autistic people. Over time, in response to these negative reactions, autistic people’s social behaviour often changes. We refer to autistic people’s changed behaviours as ‘camouflaging behaviours’. Research exploring camouflaging behaviours is still at an early stage. This study investigated camouflaging behaviours used by autistic adults in everyday social interactions using a research method that was new to the field of autism. Specifically, 17 autistic adults were filmed taking part in a common everyday social situation – a conversation with a stranger. With the help of the video of this conversation, they then showed and described their camouflaging behaviours to a researcher. These autistic people identified and described a total of 38 different camouflaging behaviours. The detailed and specific information provided by autistic adults about camouflaging behaviours generated important new insights into the ways in which autistic people adapt to, cope within and influence the neurotypical (non-autistic) social world.

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Socially interested, or socially sophisticated? On mutual social influence in autism

Cited by 6 publications

References 15 publications

Absence of covert face valuation in Autism

Absence of covert face valuation in Autism

Camouflaging in an everyday social context: An interpersonal recall study

Self-reported camouflaging behaviours used by autistic adults during everyday social interactions

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