AUTISM – THEORY OF MIND (ToM) – SIMON BARON-COHEN
Why the Whole Theory of Mind Thing is Nonsensical
Whoever decided autistic people can’t comprehend Theory of Mind (ToM) is wrong.
I first learnt about the Theory of Mind in a professional development training event held by my uni whilst I was training to become a teacher. Though I enjoyed and appreciated the majority of the presentation, something really stuck with me that I feel uneasy about to this day.
During a talk from a local autism school, the speaker (and headteacher) told us that all autistic people are incapable of Theory of Mind.
I don’t doubt the education or experience of this person in the slightest. She clearly knew what she was talking about (most of the time) and cared so so deeply about her students.
But that phrase seemed pretty intense.
Autism is a ‘condition’ that is so varied, wide-reaching, and that affects people in so many different ways. It seemed so strange to me for this woman to get up and tell a huge room of people that not one autistic person, out of millions in the world, would be capable of Theory of Mind. To be honest, and in the nicest way possible, it seemed quite ignorant.
Therefore, I was hardly surprised when I went on to study autism, to find that Theory of Mind beliefs surrounding autism are highly contested in research.
What is Theory of Mind?
Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others, serving as one of the foundational elements for social interaction
This can include:
- Predicting others’ thoughts or feelings
- Thinking about and predicting the future generally
- Knowing other people have different beliefs and knowledge than your own
- Being able to analyse a situation and understand other individuals’ thoughts/feelings/motives/beliefs/understanding
Why, apparently, can’t autistic people ‘do’ Theory of Mind?
In 1985, Baron-Cohen et al. published their research stating that autistic children have a deficit in Theory of Mind. This study, performed with only 20 autistic children, would impact professional and worldwide views on autism for years to come.
Beliefs centred and grew around neurotypical experiences of interacting with autistic people. Time and time again, neurotypicals would try and interact with autistic people and derive from these experiences that there was a deficit for autistic people in Theory of Mind.
But, in recent years the question in research has been, are neurotypical people really listening or picking up on autistic communication?
Why Can’t We Hear Autistic Voices?
Research is proving that neurotypicals are struggling to pick up on or comprehend autistic communication to start with.
Firstly, if you haven’t read about Milton’s (2012) ‘double empathy problem’, you probably should. This research, tested out and verified by several current researchers, suggests that a difference in neurotype (i.e. neurotypical or neurodiverse) creates a difficulty in joint understanding. So, neurotypical people struggle just as much to understand autistic people as autistic people struggle to understand neurotypicals. It’s not about the people, but about the interactional substrate or space and the neurological differences between the two people speaking.
Also, most qualitative, interview-based research is actually missing or misinterpreting autistic voices and communication entirely.
It’s no wonder autistic people are struggling to communicate and be heard when research and interview conditions are not accomodating of their needs. More often than not, they are placed in a small, bright room, face to face with an interviewer who shoots questions and tasks at them in a rapid-fire way.*
I’m sorry but for an autistic child that isn’t going to work.
It’s unfair and unkind to base generalisable beliefs on research that limits and restricts the voices of autistic individuals based on a lack of proper accommodations (that might allow them to actually use their voices to express themselves).
Moreover, when autistic people speak in research, they are constantly undermined and ignored by others.
We see this in case studies of children in yearly review meetings and on psychological visits (see Barnard-Dadds & Conn, 2018 and Solomon, 2015). In both these examples, the adult professionals dominate the conversations and any attempts at real or extended speech from the autistic individuals are ‘glossed’ over.
Again and again, inappropriate methods of research are used to gather information about autistic experiences. Again and again, autistic people are subsequently described as lacking, non-communicative or mentally incapable in some way or another.
History, and research, is repeating itself, and constantly perpetuating these beliefs.
So, are some autistic people capable of Theory of Mind?
YES. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
Luckily, some recent research is now becoming more accomodating of autistic participants.
Here are just some examples:
- Kid, in Solomon’s (2015) research shows incredible depth of thinking, including exercising Theory of Mind. She projects thoughts, emotions and even relationships between herself and the animals she engages with. Solomon suggests that perhaps because animals are less demanding socially that neurotypical people, Kid is more able to demonstrate her deep, intersubjective thinking. So… perhaps if neurotypicals were a little more accomodating of autistic individuals (and spoke over us a little less) they would see what we are really capable of.
- Autistic students in a study by Winstone et al. (2014), when given time to think in a joint physical point of reference, were able to describe themselves, others’ perspectives of them, the hopes of their futures and what autism means to them. This is HUGE if you believe “Theory of Mind” is unreachable to autistic individuals. Moreover, the control group (interviewed in the classic and scary way I described before*) were almost entirely incapable of these things, showing just how influential the strategy of communication is on exposing or limiting autistic voices.
- Again, Harrington et al. (2013) found that, when given the chance to feel comfortable, listened to and understood by the adult researchers, the autistic participants were able to provide ‘rich and meaningful insights’ into their own autistic life experiences. They were able to communicate their needs and make sense of these within school environments.
Examples like these are growing in current autism research constantly at the moment.
I, personally, know multiple autistic people who are capable in some way at least of Theory of Mind. In fact, part of the reason I was made so uneasy in that first talk with the autism school headteacher, was that I knew she was wrong. I just didn’t know how to explain it at the time.
It’s time for us to stop perpetuating false statements like ‘all autistic people are incapable of theory of mind’ and start really listening to autistic voices and taking the time to identify the true abilities all individuals posses.
This article was written following some personal research I undertook for an assignment I just finished writing. I hope you found it informative. If you would be interested in discussing anything I have written about, please reach out! You can either comment and add to the conversation here, or email me personally at: katrinaspeaksmedium@gmail.com
