Double Empathy Problem

The double empathy problem is a psychological theory, coined in 2012 by autism researcher Damian Milton, which proposes that the social and communication difficulties present in autistic people when socializing with non-autistic people are actually due to a reciprocal lack of understanding and bidirectional differences in communication style, social-cognitive characteristics, and experiences between autistic people and non-autistic people, but not necessarily inherent deficiency, since most autistic people are able to socialize, communicate, and empathize well with most autistic people. The theory therefore fundamentally challenges both the common notion that social skills of autistic people are inherently impaired, and the theory, developed by Professor Simon Baron-Cohen, but since disputed, that empathy, and theory of mind (ToM) are generally impaired in autistic people, which is empirically questionable with many failed replications and mixed findings. In a podcast in December 2020, and later also an article in May 2022, Simon Baron-Cohen positively recognized the Double Empathy Theory and recent findings that support it. Since 2015, there have been increasing number of research studies, including experimental studies, qualitative research, and real-life social interaction studies supporting this theory and the findings appear consistent.

History

Early studies on autism regarding ToM and empathy concluded that lack of ToM was one of the primary symptoms of autism. The most popular of these were studies by Simon Baron-Cohen in the 1980s and 1990s, who used the term '' mindblindness'' to describe his theory.

In the early 21st century, academics began to suggest that some studies of ToM tests may have misinterpreted autistic people having difficulty understanding neurotypicals as being an intrinsic social difficulty present in autistic individuals. It seems more likely that autistic people are specifically having trouble understanding neurotypicals, due to the neurological differences between the groups.

Neurologically-aligned studies

Studies which have used autistic-autistic pairs to test interpersonal rapport and communication effectiveness in adults have shown that autistic adults perform better in interpersonal rapport and communication effectiveness when paired with other autistic adults, that higher rapport may be present in autistic-autistic interactions than in those between autistic and neurotypical people, and that autistic people may be able to understand and predict each other's thoughts and motivations better than neurotypicals as well as possibly autistic close family members.

Neurotypical individuals tend to have a poor understanding for autistic people, just as autistic people may have a poor understanding of non-autistic people. It is likely autistic people understand non-autistic people to a higher degree than vice versa, due to the frequency of masking - i.e., diminishing one's autistic traits and/or personality to better camouflage into a non-autistic society. Masking begins at a young age in order to avoid bullying, a common experience for autistic children and adults.

Autistic ToM is typically based on the use of rules and logic and may be modulated by differences in thinking. If autistic people were inherently poor at social communication, an interaction between a pair of autistic people would logically be more of a struggle than one between an autistic and neurotypical person. This research contests common assumptions about autistic people in the fields of psychology and psychiatry.

A 2018 study has shown that autistic people are more prone to object personification, suggesting that autistic empathy may be not only more complex but also more all-encompassing, contrary to the popular belief that autistic people lack empathy.

Autistic perspectives

Many autistic activists have shown support for the double empathy concept, and have argued that past studies done on ToM in autism have served to stigmatise autistic people, blame autistic-neurotypical misunderstandings solely on autistic people, and de-humanise autistic people by portraying them as unempathetic.

Damian Milton has described the belief that autistic people lack ToM as a myth analogous with the now-discredited theory that vaccines cause autism.

References

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Psychological theories
Autism