Aspies Not Generalizers? What?!

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A lot of the literature about Asperger's syndrome and autism says aspies are better at seeing the trees in the forest than the forest through the trees. This generalization is specious at best, harmful at worst. In my opinion, I'm a globalizing thinker rather than a detail-oriented thinker. I'm good at recognizing, for example, behavioral patterns in people. It's not especially difficult to pick up on aspects of people's personalities usually. I can sometimes deduce that someone is probably lying, for example, because what they're saying is grossly out of character for them.

That reminds me of another thing. Aspies are said not to be very good at all at deception. Like most kids, I went through a phase of lying to try to get out of trouble at about the usual age for that. I learned not to lie generally for a very simple reason, actually: I can't help but laugh, or at least smirk. I still smile when I do something even mildly deceptive (for example, something that's true but sounds highly improbable), so I have to avoid that kind of stuff.

The psycho girl I met last year in college also had a tendency to laugh or smile when she lied, but apparently she never learned that deceptive lying was wrong.

The whole thing with the ability to generalise or not stems from a sensory issue and like all sensory issues it changes all the time. A person may refuse to see the forest because the forest is too big, prefering to see the trees instead. As they adapt to the forest, they will see it as a whole rather than many parts making up a whole.

Could this explain why Autistic children retain their innocence for much longer? There is always something else to overwhelm and amaze.

I can tell you that the notion that Autistics/Aspies are poor liars is also wrong. When we go out into the wider world, we put on a face and masquerade. Some of us enjoy it even though it's tiring. We are actors, some better than others. There isn't an inability ti be deceptive, but it definately seems to instinctively feel wrong. This might not be inheirent though; NT society as a general whole SAYS that lying and dishonesty is wrong, but NT individually say there are times when it is justified. I think we are taught by the large general society that lying is wrong and it makes us feel good inside when everyone else is telling white lies and we're not. We can follow rules and understand when those rules are inappropriate or draconian(they are usually the fallacious ones).

I never ever lie if I can help it. If I do I don't laugh or smile, unless it's something funny or a joke.

It's pretty easy to tell if I lie, I end up laughing or smiling/smirking, that pretty much gives me up for that. As far as generalizations, I have a harder time with that than focusing on the details, I've always loved the details, much easier to focus on especially when I am stressed or anxious and such.

Its really easy for me to lie. I always have a straight face anyways and plenty of bad things to thing about to keep me from smiling. I really dont like to lie. I almost always tell the truth anyways and have had people get mad at me for being too blunt.

I never thought that I was one for details, but it has been pointed out to me that my writing is very detail and description oriented. I guess, with some self-reflection, I can now see that this is true. Whenever I think about something, I almost always think in terms of a specific situation or circumstance.

For example, when I was writing this post, I was thinking that my psychology teacher told my friend that I write very "detailed" (because my friend was concerned that my paper was so much longer than hers was). I was also thinking about when I read my writing once in Children's book class, and my writing teacher told me my descriptions were all very good and very detailed, but I had no story (which was true ). From these instances, as well as others, I am able to make an observation based upon evidence, rather than starting out with a generalization, as many people do.

As for lying, I can do it, but I don't like to.

I just realized something last night. I was thinking about a friend and noticed I can't visual her whole body. I can remeber like her face, hair, torso but all separately. I noticed I do that with everyone. Does anyone else have that problem.

Odd. No, this isn't a problem I recall ever having.

Wow. The same thing happened to me! The teacher wrote "Great descriptive writing, no plot"! :lol:

My son who's an aspie used to be so honest even if it landed him with a telling off

My son has just started lying- but he is terrible at it and always feels really really bad afterwards. I think that perhaps its just a skill that takes longer for aspies to learn.


Mel

I often focus too much on the details rather than the overall picture- if I'm organising something and it doesn't go exactly to plan I get really stressed and need Dunc to remind that things will still go well.

Civet and Cindy- I could never come up with stories when I was at school- I ended up rewriting the plot of a film I'd seen recently (or a book I'd read) on many occasions

Mel

On project teams, I am the one assigned to check the details, to proof-read the documents and drawings for accuracy - and I like doing it. I am far less competent generalizing and thinking abstractly. I work on learning to generalize but it's a struggle because unnatural. Friends call me 'picky and 'too quick to find fault' because when we are watch movies together or compare reviews of books, I will point out mistakes the director or writer made that are trivial to most but important to me.

I used to think I was OK at abstract thinking. I was wrong. What I do is try to make the abstract concrete so I can grasp it but it doesn't work often. Elementary physics is beyond me.

As for lying, sure I can lie under some circumstances, but I abhor it. The lie can only be justified by the unjust system I deal with. The aspie principle of telling the truth is intact, but the necessity of living in an NT world poses a conflict. My intellect sometimes resolves the conflict in favor of lying so as not to be a victim of the unjust system I am part of.

I used to be able to write short stories without too much trouble. I'm not sure what's happened to me, since then. I think perhaps I'm just too concerned with coming up with something perfect that I can't come up with anything at all.



I'm not sure what elementary physics are specifically. I do know that basic high school physics was pretty much impossible for me to grasp.

I'm very good at writing stories, and I can come up with the most hilarious stuff right off the top of my head. I don't plan out or organize a writing: It just flows. I just need an inspiration. Often that inspiration is simply the energy from being in the middle of a conversation with people or something interesting someone said.



I didn't bother going through the effort of learning the concepts in my high school physics class. I just crammed a few definitions and formulae during lunch right before the test. Of course, I would pay attention--for the most part--in class and copy down all the notes, which I usually had to condense down into a more usable form with just the important stuff. I don't really remember very much from my physics class, but I do remember the teacher was kind of annoying.

I was bad at originality when it came to stories. Doctors reports seemed to back that up.