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Don't Neurotypicals Have Special Interests Too?

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unknownfactor
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07 Dec 2015, 10:34 pm

the_phoenix wrote:
NT Special Interests:

1) Football
2) Pizza
3) Beer
4) Shopping
5) The Kardassians (or however you spell it)
6) Parties
7) Golf
8 ) Their House
9) Their Lawn and Garden
10) How Busy They Are

As for football, there are some fans who will go to the stadium during a snowstorm at temperatures way below zero, paint their bodies and faces a different color, jump up and down screaming at the top of their lungs with no shirt on. There are some other fans who will bark like dogs on a radio station to win free tickets. And others who will wear fake cheese on their heads. So, what's normal?

...


You list forgot to mention their kids, cars, and whatever topic cable news deems to be of interest. :)



unknownfactor
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07 Dec 2015, 11:22 pm

Obsession is relative with respect to social acceptance even when said obsession is destructive. At my last job, there were constant repetitive topics on golf, some guy's Tim Tebow hate crush, ongoing "blah blah blah my college age daughter is awful". All of it crap forcing it's way into my brain whether I wanted to hear about it or not. It's shut down my productivity more times than I can count and, no, I did not want to hear it. But the ADHD / Open Plan Office / autism factors didn't give me much of a choice in the matter.

That's one thing that makes this whole thing confusing to me. I've suffered a lot more at the hands of NT special interests than NTs have at mine. :?



Marybird
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08 Dec 2015, 12:20 am

unknownfactor wrote:
Kind of a dumb question and maybe a little trollish by nature. (I don't mean it to be) But yes, this is something that bugs me so I had to ask. Where does the difference lie between an aspie with a special interest and an NT with a hobby?

Point of reference.... I'm 98% consistent over the course of a year with my interest. I also have the charts to prove it. But I would think that any well-disciplined NT could do what I do. So where is the difference, exactly?


Autistic special interest is part of restrictive and repetitive behaviors such as performing the same routine over and over or thinking about the same thing over and over or being obsessed with a favorite topic.

It has to do with reduced brain flexibility.
Also pattern detection:
Quote:
The apparently ‘restricted’ aspects of restricted interests are at least partly related to pattern detection, in that there are positive emotions in the presence of material presenting a high level of internal structure, and a seeking out of material related in form and structure to what has already been encountered and memorized. Limitation of generalization may also be explained by the constraints inherent in the role of similarity in pattern detection, which would prevent an extension of isomorphisms to classes of elements that are excessively dissimilar to those composing the initial form. In any case, there is no reason why autistic perceptual experts would be any less firm, diligent or enthusiastic in their specific preferences for materials and domains than their non-autistic expert counterparts. However, it must also be acknowledged that the information autistics require in order to choose and generalize any given interest is likely to be atypical in many respects (in that this may not be the information that non-autistics would require), and may not be freely or at all available. In addition, the atypical ways in which autistics and savants learn well have attracted little interest and are as yet poorly studied and understood, such that we remain ignorant as to the best ways in which to teach these individuals (Dawson et al. 2008



Joe90
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08 Dec 2015, 2:14 am

NTs being obsessed with sports is a stereotype, just like Aspies being obsessed with trains is. Some NTs hate sports. I know high school conformity makes a lot of kids feel they have to be into sports, just like primary schools encourage kids to be into reading books. That's my experience of school life anyway. The primary schools are hot on getting kids to read, and the big schools are hot on getting kids to exercise.

But when kids leave school, they start to develop their own interests, instead of just what their mates are into. My cousin hated football when he was little, then when he got to a teenager he just joined a football team because his mates were doing it, but after he left school he quit football, not minding what his mates were doing, and got into what he always felt was more him, which was growing his hair long, and listening to Led Zeppelin (sorry, can't spell these stupid rock singer's names). Then he met new friends who also liked the same type of music and were hippie wannabes. So not all NTs live their whole lives pretending to be into something just because their mates are.

NTs can have solo interests too. I know people who have gotten into colouring, and are happy to sit alone for hours colouring, and have spent so much money on colouring pens and (adult) colouring books.


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08 Dec 2015, 4:42 am

unknownfactor wrote:
Kind of a dumb question and maybe a little trollish by nature. (I don't mean it to be) But yes, this is something that bugs me so I had to ask. Where does the difference lie between an aspie with a special interest and an NT with a hobby?

Point of reference.... I'm 98% consistent over the course of a year with my interest. I also have the charts to prove it. But I would think that any well-disciplined NT could do what I do. So where is the difference, exactly?


Yes, they do. Now to see the difference, try discussing your special interest with an NT who has the same interest, and watch them respond with something like this:

:hmph: OK, thanks... I'm interested in what you are saying, but thats a little more information then what I wanted. Can we change the subject? What did you think about that Monday night football game?


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unknownfactor
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08 Dec 2015, 8:18 am

I get what your saying sort of about talking to NTs about the same interest but at the same time I don't get it. "Golf talkers" can go on for hours at a time nuking the productivity of everyone around them.

Hmmmm......It's a theory of mind distinction, right? Golf talkers of NT persuasion can more readily read each others nonverbals and pick up on signals that it's a-okay to the "on-the-green" banter for another hour.