Autistic people seeing through nonsense

Post Reply New Topic

It seems some discussions suggest that autistic people are too naive so will believe everything while NTs are able to understand the logical truth in everything, but then another discussion suggests that autistic people are too clever and logical to be taken in by things while the NTs are the ones who are naive and believe everything that's said to them at face value.

So really I think it just depends on the individual, not an NT or autistic trait. Some autistics think that only autistic children believe in Santa while NTs know the truth by 2 years old and are socially adult enough to just play along, while other times many autistics think that autistic children are more capable of figuring out that Santa isn't real while NT children naively believe in him for the first 10 years of their lives.

So...which is it?
I mean I know I believed in Santa up until I was 9 and never even thought about questioning the logic, and I'm sure it just went the same way with NT kids too; their parents told them the fantasy and they just believed it without questioning logic or even really talking about it much to their classmates, and then they just find out the truth as they get older.

true; no joke, I'm an example

I'm wondering whether there's a better word than nonsense for the stuff we're talking about seeing through.

I like this explanation, personally. To that I would add the following: some observations from Dr. Asperger in the book "Neurotribes" (by Steve Silberman)

My 2cents here:

ASD peers often exhibit a form of "monotropic" attention—deep, focused interest in specific topics.
Which, when combined with reduced social conformity pressures, can lead to novel, high-fidelity problem-solving approaches.
This means they are not only thinking outside the box but are often unaware or unconcerned that a "box" exists
in the first place. This detachment from conventional frameworks allows them to explore solution spaces that neurotypical (NT) peers might overlook due to implicit social or cognitive constraints.

Darker implication of this:
There’s a risk of instrumentalizing neurodivergent individuals—valuing them only for their utility in innovation. It's important to balance appreciation for their unique contributions with respect for their full humanity, including support for their well-being and autonomy.

Funier Sidenote on this:
The way ASD peers approach problems—rule-based, detail-oriented, and less socially biased—can resemble certain AI systems. Studying ASD cognition might offer insights into designing better human-AI interfaces or hybrid problem-solving teams.

Not all of us, thankfully. I don't want to be comparable to robots, I hate robots.

@Tamaya
Thank you Tamaya indeed not all of us, and I was not comparing us to robots, mainly pointing out similarities in algorithm's of approach to problem solving/analysis.

I know. It wasn't you, it's just facts sometimes, apparently autistic people are known to be emotionless and more logical or something. Not me though. I'm really emotional and illogical. In fact I find logic difficult to alter my thinking style too, which is why my therapy for emetophobia didn't really work.

Last edited by Tamaya on 17 Jun 2025, 9:07 am, edited 1 time in total.

@Tamaya,

Thank you for your feedback, it lead me down an internet rabbit hole on the relationship between ASD and emetophobia, and yes: Anecdotal and Clinical Observations show a higher prevalence of emetophobia among autistic peers (href: https://www.amandamosespsychology.com.a ... -to-autism ) which you probably already knew

So yes it makes sense that interoception combined with higher limbic sensitivities equal a bad time.
I know it does not help you but my feeling go out to you and I wish you all the best, truly. I've not had similar issues as you but had for ASD unrelated cancer to undergo chemo and I fully empathize.

And don't worry logic/intelligence and wisdom are not as related as people think.
Your humility and wisdom do shine trough in your responses and posts.

Kind regards,
Kada

Emetophobia isn't related to autism, anyone can get it. I have R-CPD so it makes vomiting so much more difficult. My NT mum had emetophobia, even though she didn't have R-CPD.

Thanks for the clarification.

I think we are pretty gullible overall, but we might be better at filtering certain kinds of nonsense. For example when a social norm causes people to think a certain way that we just never picked up, or certain emotional arguments that might bias nts.
Particularly if we are given enough time, we can filter anything.

^
Good point, that nonsense comes in different flavours.

Agrees with most all the above post..have been Gaslit so many times ,I cannot count , by all sorts of people .
City Counsel people , Member of the House of Representatives in my own State with a elderly gentleman in a personal
meeting with him. Dept head of Infectious d doctor suppose to be helping diagnosing me for Lyme disease. But when my late husband and I asked him what guidelines he was using,And he said he used guideline with a organization that did not believe that such a disease existed, Police, my own family ,etc Handymen , Neighbours . It is ridiculous the stuff thry try to pass off. After over 60+years of life. Its enough to make you Bonkers . And seeing through these people .
Can just disillusion you. But , if you can make mental distance between yourself and this stuff. You can live a happy life.
And yes .. am still and was a naive Aspie but that is just that, and if I am careful , about people. My Limited Naivete is just fine . Cause it allows me. to still be kind and generous ,when I wish.But my Aspie insights (Intuition) whatever you want to call it has preserved me . Nicely. And would not have it differently.

To paraphrase the Alan Parsons Project -- too many fools in the real world.

I hardly know where to start. I’ve always had a knack for noticing idiosyncrasies, which I tried to resolve, sometimes over decades (GRT being a notable example which I now know to be redundant). I also note when things people say make no sense (or should that be missing the “hidden” information that made it work for NTs?). Soon after starting my work as an engineer, I noticed that I was spotting opportunities that no else seems to notice (which proved very useful!) and thought in different ways.

Example: I was once tasked with designing an aluminium plinth to replace the current folded steel model. I started by trying to determine the function of the various parts, and was surprised to discover that nobody knew what some of them did; they’d just been tacked on over generations, “just in case”! I took what seems to be an unusual view that, if nobody knew what it did, then it shouldn’t be there! The result was that, not only was my design lighter and stiffer (as was desired) but also unexpectedly cheaper to manufacture! Those parts I omitted never again raised their ugly heads. Unusually, this was appreciated by management, but seeing things differently is usually a cause of annoyance; suggesting better ways of doing things takes NTs out f their comfort zone, which they will not thank you for.

Regardless of such social unpleasantness, being able to see through the “nonsense” has played a huge part in scientific and technical development, so no way can it be reasonably considered a defect.