Autism spectrum traits predict higher social psychological skill

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders
• Social Cognition

Background:

• Social-cognitive skills encompass understanding others (person perception) and predicting broader social dynamics.
• Previous research associates autism spectrum (AS) traits with deficits in person perception.
• The relationship between AS traits and predicting generalized social phenomena remains underexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether autism spectrum (AS) traits predict accuracy in predicting generalized social phenomena.
• To explore the potential role of systemizing in this relationship.
• To differentiate between various forms of social cognition.

Main Methods:

• Study 1: Assessed AS traits and social psychological skill accuracy in ~6,500 participants across 104 countries.
• Study 2: Examined the role of systemizing in the relationship between AS traits and social psychological skill in 400 participants.

Main Results:

• Contrary to hypotheses, higher AS traits predicted greater accuracy in predicting social psychological phenomena.
• A positive association was found between AS traits and predicting generalized social phenomena.
• Heightened systemizing was identified as a potential mediator for this positive relationship.

Conclusions:

• Autism spectrum (AS) traits are positively associated with a specific type of social cognitive skill: predicting social psychological phenomena.
• Findings challenge previous assumptions and emphasize the need to distinguish between different facets of social cognition.
• The study highlights systemizing as a key factor linking AS traits to enhanced social prediction skills.