Do NTs seem devoid of emotions?

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Do NTs seem devoid of emotions to you?
Do you feel as though NTs can't understand emotions and can't express emotions?

P.S
Usually, it is us who are supposed to not understand/express emotions, but the more I research it, the more it seems that it is actually NTs who can't understand/express emotions.

Some people, I notice, will suppress their emotions, not feeling them until later. After they have time to think, they experience an emotion they might not have had before and it could alter their attitude about something.
One emotion can be exchanged for another. If someone experiences something that makes them feel sad, they laugh at jokes instead. Maybe the sadness is too uncomfortable to bear so they replace it with something that is more soothing.
When I cry, it causes me physical pain, it irritates my skin, gives me a headache, causes my throat to hurt. It's very uncomfortable experience for me, so I would gladly replace that with laughing because laughter doesn't cause the physical unease. Perhaps others do the same thing but for different reasons. Maybe, some people have a genuine fear of letting others see them cry so they will do anything to not cry in front of people?
I see all people having conflicting emotions from time to time. It's like they don't know what to do with them so they try their best to sort them out.
Sometimes, they appear to not have them, to be callous and uncaring. Maybe they are conflicted and insecure at these times and are attempting to find ways to keep these emotions from taking control.
From what I can tell, people, in general, do not like to feel negative emotions but do like positive ones and will compensate with positive whenever possible which can, at times, cause them to appear callous and flippant ,perhaps even cold and unfeeling if they are footloose and fancy free when the situation calls for something dour.

From my experience, it's difficult to tell. Since people with AS don't read other people well, it takes a great deal of emotion from an NT in order for us to correctly guess what they're feeling. Best example I can give was when my NT mother was in the hospital for a month after a procedure to cure her lymphoma (don't worry, she's fine now). I could guess she was tired and weakened based on the fact she was in bed all the time I was there. When she was told that she needed to have her appendix removed while she was there (postponing her release for a week), she joked at first only to break down in tears. That was the first time during the entire ordeal (about 3 weeks into it) that I could tell she was scared. Before being diagnosed with AS, I just assumed I was just taking her for granted. The reality of it was that I simply couldn't tell the difference save for extreme circumstances.

uh, no.

Most people out in the world seem to be swimming in oceans of emotion that I must try my best not to drown in.

I freely admit that I am the one who has problems expressing/understanding emotions. That is a daily struggle for me.

Yes, definitly. Often when you look into their eyes it's like there's nothing there, it's like a void. Aspie's eyes on the other hand seem so full of emotions.

Beautiful
It is so liberating and reassuring to know other autistics who sense this.

They usually seem devoid of the lingering despair that afflicts aspies, so the depth of their emotions probably seems less. Indeed, emotions in most people are superficial and transient, so it's dubious whether most people have 'true emotions'.

As far as expressing and reading emotions goes, NTs have aspies beat by a long-shot. Although, I kind of wonder if "NT emotions" are different from "Aspie emotions" and so they're like two different subcultures? That is, can NTs read aspies' emotions better than aspies can?

Funny...
One of the reasons NTs seem emotionless to me is indeed that they never seem sad enough.

It's more like there isn't a clear difference to them between genuine emotions and pretended ones. What does it mean when they are deliberately making a sad or happy face? It doesn't mean, in my eyes, that they're actually sad or happy. It might mean an expression of empathy, sadness or happiness over something you said to them, but then it's not real empathy because the facial expression seems very deliberate and not spontaneous.
"Reality is overrated", an English teacher once said to me. Horrible statement, I thought then and now. Is that how NT's think?

I've been on the dating scene for a while, and I'm surprised by how cold NTs are. Not just with me, with everyone.

The "alpha male" ideal must NEVER show any emotional attachment - that would imply a need, which means weakness. Women in their turn are attracted to alpha males, and avoid the opposite kind of men (you and me) so any kind of emotional attachment is either weak or one sided. When I speak to couples in long term relationships, they are easy going about sex, but emotion? Hardly any. They talk about not being particularly attached to their partner, and words like "I love you" are rare. It must be how NTs like it.

Agreed. The ability to lie convincingly may be why NTs out-breed Autistic folk.

Could that be because NTs either fake or hide their emotions, making them harder to read? If they often hide emotions (and then give misleading fake emotions) you could be assuming emotions that do not exist? I know that online I often assume emotions are more serious than they are. If a NT says something without thinking, then I'll worry about it for hours.


Could this be because you want to always express how you feel, but long ago leaned that it is inappropriate (in NT society)?

Last edited by trappedinhell on 21 May 2011, 9:49 am, edited 1 time in total.

All I now is that neurotypical bosses show me no mercy when they fire me because it is socially acceptable to fire autistic people.

From my experience they seem to be too full of emotion. I hate Star Trek but I will use a Star Trek refrence autistics are like Vulcans compared to the NTs who are like Romulans. I have met more emotionless autistics and never a emotionless NT.

Or because you are unable to do the job. Every job I was let go from it was because I could not do the job it was not the boss's fault he would not be doing his job if he kept incompetent employees on the pay roll. If bosses loved to fire autistics then how did I manage to hold down 2 jobs for 9 years each. I always did my best to achieve perfection in what I did.

NTs do understand and express emotions.