Welcome back to Reading the Research, where I trawl
the Internet to find noteworthy research on autism and related subjects,
then discuss it in brief with bits from my own life, research, and
observations.
Today's article covers one unfortunate common side effect of autism: the tendency to not recognize when one is being lied to. The study itself was relatively straightforward, simply having autistic people watch videos of people lying and not lying regarding a test. People with autistic traits (but not a diagnosis) or with an ASD diagnosis were significantly less likely to recognize a liar.
This study is somewhat remarkable due to the fact that it also tested the general population for autistic traits as well as giving everyone the lie detection test. Depending on how autism is defined, older people like myself, while definitely still "disabled" in some senses, may not actually qualify for the DSM-5 diagnosis at the current time. Ironically, the disability aspect is often still there. The difference is that we've learned so many adaptive strategies, we no longer seem autistic, and therefore the casual observer insists we must not qualify. (This is a particularly common accusation for a verbal autistic adult to receive from a parent whose child does not speak, and does not currently blend into society at all. Their assumption that their child and the autistic adult are fundamentally different is flawed, but that's another entry entirely.)
The researchers suggest training as a way to handle the disparity between neurotypical lie detection abilities and autistic lie detection abilities. Personally? I think that'd be fascinating. If someone would like to pinpoint the common traits that accompany lying, and make a video series that shows them visually and aurally, I'd watch the whole thing. If it was well-made, I'd link it to every person I know who has autistic traits.
The thing you have to keep in mind with stuff like this, though, is that lying is a recreational pastime in US culture. The most famous example of this tendency is the dreaded question: "Does this dress make me look fat?" The truthful answer, whatever that might be, is irrelevant. The correct answer is the most soothing, reassuring version of "no" you can manage. Extra bonus points if the dress is hideous, and you manage to redirect the person's attention to a different dress without upsetting them.
Other common lies include the traditional response to "How are you?" ("Just fine, thanks!"), and the customer service standard goodbye ("Have a nice day!"). Like many autistic people, I dislike lying to people. So when I'm in company I'm more comfortable with, I don't say "just fine, thanks" when asked how I'm doing. I'll often default to something more like "just plugging along," which is less indicative of a positive mood. If I know the company I'm in fairly well, I'm more likely to pause and try to give a truthful answer. Which, given me, is usually a more negative one. Hooray, low-grade depression.
I actually get around the customer service "have a nice day" by saying "you too!" and actually meaning it. The saying is that you can judge a person by how they treat waiters, customer service staff, and fast food workers. I think that's true to a point, and I always try to keep in mind that those people are also people. My hope is that they use their neurotypical superpowers to read my expression and tone, and recognize that I literally mean it.
With those three examples, knowing the person is lying to you is of dubious use. So such training would probably need to emphasize the difference between cultural falsehoods/white lies, and more serious types of lies. It should also describe how to make that judgement on the fly, and how to safely react if it's the latter type. Generally speaking, you don't want to tell a human predator directly that you've spotted they're lying to you, how you spotted it, and that they should bugger off. That would be the natural tendency for a lie-hating autistic person. Instead, you want to make a polite excuse or lie to leave immediately, preferably in trusted company, and then do so.
Even if the training they came up with didn't cover all of this, though, I'd still watch it. I'd bet I'm still below the general population in my ability to recognize lies.
Today's article covers one unfortunate common side effect of autism: the tendency to not recognize when one is being lied to. The study itself was relatively straightforward, simply having autistic people watch videos of people lying and not lying regarding a test. People with autistic traits (but not a diagnosis) or with an ASD diagnosis were significantly less likely to recognize a liar.
This study is somewhat remarkable due to the fact that it also tested the general population for autistic traits as well as giving everyone the lie detection test. Depending on how autism is defined, older people like myself, while definitely still "disabled" in some senses, may not actually qualify for the DSM-5 diagnosis at the current time. Ironically, the disability aspect is often still there. The difference is that we've learned so many adaptive strategies, we no longer seem autistic, and therefore the casual observer insists we must not qualify. (This is a particularly common accusation for a verbal autistic adult to receive from a parent whose child does not speak, and does not currently blend into society at all. Their assumption that their child and the autistic adult are fundamentally different is flawed, but that's another entry entirely.)
The researchers suggest training as a way to handle the disparity between neurotypical lie detection abilities and autistic lie detection abilities. Personally? I think that'd be fascinating. If someone would like to pinpoint the common traits that accompany lying, and make a video series that shows them visually and aurally, I'd watch the whole thing. If it was well-made, I'd link it to every person I know who has autistic traits.
The thing you have to keep in mind with stuff like this, though, is that lying is a recreational pastime in US culture. The most famous example of this tendency is the dreaded question: "Does this dress make me look fat?" The truthful answer, whatever that might be, is irrelevant. The correct answer is the most soothing, reassuring version of "no" you can manage. Extra bonus points if the dress is hideous, and you manage to redirect the person's attention to a different dress without upsetting them.
Other common lies include the traditional response to "How are you?" ("Just fine, thanks!"), and the customer service standard goodbye ("Have a nice day!"). Like many autistic people, I dislike lying to people. So when I'm in company I'm more comfortable with, I don't say "just fine, thanks" when asked how I'm doing. I'll often default to something more like "just plugging along," which is less indicative of a positive mood. If I know the company I'm in fairly well, I'm more likely to pause and try to give a truthful answer. Which, given me, is usually a more negative one. Hooray, low-grade depression.
I actually get around the customer service "have a nice day" by saying "you too!" and actually meaning it. The saying is that you can judge a person by how they treat waiters, customer service staff, and fast food workers. I think that's true to a point, and I always try to keep in mind that those people are also people. My hope is that they use their neurotypical superpowers to read my expression and tone, and recognize that I literally mean it.
With those three examples, knowing the person is lying to you is of dubious use. So such training would probably need to emphasize the difference between cultural falsehoods/white lies, and more serious types of lies. It should also describe how to make that judgement on the fly, and how to safely react if it's the latter type. Generally speaking, you don't want to tell a human predator directly that you've spotted they're lying to you, how you spotted it, and that they should bugger off. That would be the natural tendency for a lie-hating autistic person. Instead, you want to make a polite excuse or lie to leave immediately, preferably in trusted company, and then do so.
Even if the training they came up with didn't cover all of this, though, I'd still watch it. I'd bet I'm still below the general population in my ability to recognize lies.
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