Do you imagine what other people might be thinking?

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I do this pretty often when I hear people say things to other people and I was wondering how common this is in the autism community. For example, today someone said to another person their backpack was open, and I could imagine the person thinking...

"Thanks a lot! Now I need to take off my backpack and zip it up because you pressured me into it when I would've been just fine leaving it the way it was.

>: ("

But, in reality, they were probably thinking something along the lines of...

"how embarrasing. I need to zip it up"

or

"Thanks for letting me know!"

So, I was wondering, how often do you think about these kinds of things?

I don't tend to imagine what other people are thinking if I'm not directly involved. If someone told some other random person to zip up their backpack, it's likely I wouldn't notice, or I'd think about whether my own backpack was zipped.

I do often wonder what people think when I say things, but I think that's a manifestation of my social anxiety.

I could really use a dose of this imagining what other people are thinking while talking to them. I can imagine after the fact, but I don't know if I'm imagining correctly. But during? Definitely no imagining.

I will add to my earlier post that I don't think about what people are thinking while I'm saying things, I always start ruminating about what they might be thinking after the fact as well.

If it doesn't involve me I'm generally not the slightest bit interested, it just doesn't occur to me to think about it. If it does involve me then only usually if I perceive that there is a problem. So, for example, if I think someone might be angry with me or have taken a dislike to me, but I'm not sure whether they definitely are, or what I might have done to prompt such a reaction, I tend to try to work things out by analyzing their words and actions. I tend to do it after the event though, rather than while it is actually happening.

I think I misread the original post, which is actually about imagining what other people are thinking when you are not personally involved in the interactions. I don't think I do this, not enough for me to have noticed it. But I do listen to other people's conversations when I am bored.

Redacted.

Last edited by Willard on 01 Oct 2011, 8:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

I don't imagine what people are thinking unless I explicitly take the time to imagine it. Most of the time, to my perceptions, other people may as well not have inner lives. Oh, I mean, in the abstract sense of being aware that other people think, I know they do, but in the practical sense of guessing what they think? I don't usually.

I have done it before but find it's much less stressful not to worry about it.

Too often. It catches my interest all the time and everywhere.

Honestly, I usually completely forget that other people have thoughts at all.

No, can't say I do.

i try not because i am usually far far off

ummmmmm... I find it fun to think about it.

I especially like imagining the other person being dramatic in an exact opposite way to how you're supposed to react. Like, in the situation above, it'd tell the person you don't like being bugged about such trivial things but, since it's so common, they'd probably be more likely to think you're a FREAK!

Either way, it'd be entertaining if it actually happened.

That's cool. I thought you meant imagining that people are thinking negatively about you, that they don't like you and stuff along those lines. When people try to imagine what others are thinking, it's usually bad, so why worry about it?

I think most people imagine what other people are thinking and it's not necessarily about what they think of themselves. For the more ... oh, what's the word, self-conscious... the type of thoughts they're more focused on are how others are judging them. But, not everybody is self-conscious (Although, a good hearty percentage of neurotypicals are.).

[hehe, it sounds like I'm disagreeing with you but yet I'm really agreeing. Funny how that is.]