Good social skills are about being a good liar/pretender
When I speak with an NT, I play close attention to context, body language, and other cues to get the full message, not just the literal spoken part. I also make sure not to be excessively honest or blunt. I can do the dance better than most aspies.
When talking to an aspie, I'm much more direct, honest, and blunt since other cues will not be perceived. I'm often the go-between for the NT nontech alphas and the aspie geeks who do all the work.
Exactly. The "dance" is about manipulating others, showing off your social skills at the expense of others and thereby raising yourself in the social hierarchy. Social status is an invention by the Devil. I hate that social interactions are often about being mean to others.
Parties for young people are often about nothing but this. Never speak too much to someone with a lower status that yours. People might mistake you for having that lower status too. It's awful.
I am definitely an aspie, and I cannot say I felt this way when I was younger, but here is the situation now: I am around what many aspies are calling "nt's" all day long and have all kinds of conversations and various interactions, and I am experiencing basic good humor and affection and see these folks feeling it for and with each othe and for me, However it might depend to some degree on the area a person lives in. On my street are many wealthy people I guess could be called yuppies with very fine homes but I live on the end of the block where there are apartments, and these home owners are weird. I get a cold, cut off feeling from them, and I think when I was in high schooland college I did get this same kind of feeling from some people.
The problem I have is blaming ones feelings of being cut-off on other people. That does not seem to be a transformation way of looking at it. It blocks oneself into a box and lessens the chance of ever experiencing something different. I hate to see young people doing this and basically suffering because of their own wrong thinking, but blaming it all on someone else. I see some of the interactions on wrong planet as supporting this kind of bias built on ones own negative emotions and even conditioning and encouraging others, especially young people who are suffering and trying to sort things out, to think in this way, and this causes me a lot of concern and a really deep sorrow. I have been through horrible suffering in my life because of wrong thinking and not being able to make a connection on a certain level with others, and I would hate to see many young people who are still fresh and have a chance to turn many things around go though this kind of suffering. I do not think it is necessary to suffer in the way I did.
The way I see it this forum is for learning, inquiry, discovery, not to just tell people that other people have these character defects and to basically blame ones own social problems on them. I think that is a skewed view. The way to begin to develop compassion is to start to not see these "nt's" as bugs, but to see the commonalities with oneself.
Hopefully honest inquiry will begin to sort some of this stuff out.
You have a really creative mind and are trying to figure things out and also have the altruistic motivation to help people, all of which is good, but there is too much labeling and thinking of other people as this or that type, and all of this does involve thinking about oneself and making comparisons with others, which can even be a subtle form of competition.. When there is love, there no time to have these kinds of thoughts. There is a saying---the devil is in the details..
No. It's because words are insufficient for full communication. What is happening here online is only partial communication. Emoticons/smileys help but they are in no way enough. Words are also a very slow form of communication. That doesn't matter in text because there is all the time in the world. But in face to face communication, time is often of the essence and having to say literally everything would be too slow.
Absolute and unswerving honesty could get around the deception problem. But it couldn't get around the speed and efficiency problem.
You're right about the speed and efficiency issue.
But there is also some truth to the trustworthyness...if you need to know what people really think and mean you have to watch their body language and behaviour. You cannot just rely on what they say because you might get tricked.
'Tricked' makes it seem like people do this on purpose. Chances are they think you're completely capable of picking up (what is to them blatantly obvious) behaviour signals, even if you've told them a million times that you can't. To NTs, they often don't have to spend an ounce of energy on interpreting body language - it comes so naturally to them that it's inconceivable how anyone might not be able to read it.
_________________
Frustrated polymath; Current status: dilettante...I'm working on it.
http://linguisticautistic.tumblr.com/
My problem is that I'm not a cool enough bro. Our modern society much favors a communication style like this:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5oXCm4N3J_M[/youtube]
That's pretty hilarious but in the real world NT's and Aspie's alike would have to be incredibly mind-numbingly foolish to act like that.
I think maybe I know what you're getting at though. For guys it does seem like being entertaining enough to attract attention is a part of the "social skills" package. Too polite == stiff and boring == get ignored by everyone. Having my own sense of humor that's on the same wavelength as others is a struggle for me. I've always felt like I had to imitate people and act like a different person to fit in with different social circles and that leads to the point where I don't feel like I'm my own person. I learned pretty early on that it was not possible to fully relate to people just being myself. Only under internet anonymity can I be my true self. Kind of explains my addiction to sites like this.
Five defenses of non-verbal/social cues come to mind as I read this thread:
• Just because non-verbal communication* creates the possibility of acting nefariously or selfishly does not mean that that is why most people do it. It’s like saying: ‘Chemistry can cause explosions therefore everyone involved in Chemistry wants to blow stuff up for their own gratification’.
• It’s much harder to convincingly falsify non-verbals than it is to falsify words, so the indirect communication can primarily reveal (or at least hint at) what another person is truly thinking/feeling. In this way, it’s not ‘tricking’ or ‘lying’, it’s actually providing more information and can indicate the level of truth to the words being said– as long as you can perceive the information that is being conveyed, of course.
• People don’t ‘act socially’ purely for self-benefit, it’s also a solid indication to others that we care about them and their feelings enough to modify impulsive behaviours and make them comfortable in our presence.
• Non-verbal communication can also be used to soften the impact of hard truths. Part of my job is to break very bad news to patients and their families, and there are a lot of non-verbals that can be implemented to ensure the information is received and processed as gently yet efficiently as possible without inducing an emotional brick wall. This is not lying, this is telling the truth in a way that will be best received.
• Non-verbal communication can also convey a somewhat veiled complement or praise when delivering one outright would seem crass and sycophantic. For example, I have two ways of saying “Not bad” that differ in pitch, facial expression and head movement; one indicates that I mean exactly what I said, while the other indicates that what I really mean is “That’s insanely fantastic!”
Of course, everyone’s experiences are different and everyone runs into someone (or many someones) who just wants to take advantage of them and others, but I think it’s important to not jump into the defensive position that all NT social interactions are built on lies and are therefore fake and therefore worthless. Not understanding something doesn’t make it automatically useless or nefarious.
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(*Footnote: I’m using the term ‘non-verbal communication’, but what I mean to encompass is ‘meta-communication’, which not only includes body language, facial expressions etc, but also verbal intonation, cadence, syllabic stress, etc)
_________________
Frustrated polymath; Current status: dilettante...I'm working on it.
http://linguisticautistic.tumblr.com/
True. I see one should get good at finding out who belong to those "someones" and who do not.
It's a matter of who will use their social skills in positive ways.
littlebee,
I'm not out to "get a hit on the NTs". NTs can be more compassionate than AS people. I love NT persons in my own life.
What bothers me is that being able to dominate and make yourself seem better than other people via social skills is what you "should" do to be considered at great mental health. When you act like this people start to treat you better (often out of fear) - because what if you were to use those social skills on them!! It's the whole snobbery/social status/manipulative/sarcastic approach some people have I think is awful.
But I see it pays off, that's what I find sad. It's what you are supposed to be like. That's what I mean when I say social skills have this element of being a good liar/pretender.
I think there is a lot of wasted effort in trying to make it so.
Unfortunately, this seems to be true. For example, social reciprocity. I like to think that if someone said "hi" to me, I say "hi" to them back; if they say "How are you?", I also say "How are you?" -
Then these mathematical exchanges carry on to more complex social interactions, such as: If someone asked me a question, I should answer it. If they asked 2 questions, then I should answer both. If they hugged me one day, then I should greet them with a hug the next.
But (very, very unfortunately), "normal" exchanges don't work that way and I find myself forever befuddled and confused...
True. Aspie problems are often more a matter of willingness, than capability.
In some sense one could say that one isn't capable, because one isn't willing enough.
It's in some sense a matter of accepting: "In love and war all is fair"...but for aspies this concept often seems to be much wider because they generally have quite high moral standards.
If all is fair in love and war, why would lying suddenly be unfair? That's in some sense the mentality. Life is almost too important to make anything unfair. Lies and manipulation are almost neglectable actions in the big scheme of things.
The general opinion is that survival is more important than moral standards. When survival is at risk, moral standards are simply prioritized less. In love and war, there are no moral standards left.
Absolutely awesome videos!! Thank you so much for sharing! How did you discover them? I wish I was a native English speaker because I miss a lot of the dialogue, but it's an amazing idea. The best portrayal of society I've ever seen.
_________________
There are two means of refuge from the miseries of life: music and cats - Albert Schweitzer
I know what you mean. I can just find it offending that people often will exploit it if you don't really know what's going on (due to autism for instance). It is a way of "sorting out the weak", and you are supposed to also sort out those who don't get your "acting". I'm just not fond of social status games in general. The weak need help, not sorting out.
The more you do it yourself, the less you mind. If you have AS and don't do it at all, you mind a lot. I see that's how it works.
I know what you mean. I can just find it offending that people often will exploit it if you don't really know what's going on (due to autism for instance). It is a way of "sorting out the weak", and you are supposed to also sort out those who don't get your "acting". I'm just not fond of social status games in general. The weak need help, not sorting out.
The more you do it yourself, the less you mind. If you have AS and don't do it at all, you mind a lot. I see that's how it works.
Yeah, you're right. I don't think the "sorting out the weak" effect is deliberate, though.
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