Autism spectrum traits are predictive of difficulties in making social judgments about specific individuals, but a study involving more than 6,900 people finds that autism spectrum traits predict an unexpected skill in making judgments about general social phenomena; the results suggest that skill in discerning patterns and rules of systems, a feature of autism spectrum disorder, may account for enhanced perception of social phenomena, according to the authors.
Article #19-11460: "Autism spectrum traits predict higher social psychological skill," by Anton Gollwitzer, Cameron Martel, James C. McPartland, and John A. Bargh.
MEDIA CONTACT: Anton Gollwitzer, Yale University, New Haven, CT; e-mail: anton.gollwitzer@yale.edu
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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences