View source | |
# 2018-04-24 - How To Understand Autism by Alex Durig | |
# Introduction | |
In contemporary science, logic is conceptualized as formal logic, | |
which is the basis for computers and robots. But, people are not | |
computers and robots, so scientists believe logic can't be wired into | |
the brain. In academic terms, to claim that logic is wired into the | |
brain is tantamount to committing scientific heresy. In other words, | |
this book represents a departure from normal science! | |
However, this book is based on two fundamental commitments: | |
* the ability to think logically is wired into the brain | |
* every human being deserves trust, respect, safety, and comfort | |
To be able to understand the way each of us is wired up for logical | |
thinking is the key to understanding the mind and perception. This | |
will help us to begin understanding autism. To be able to give each | |
person trust, respect, safety, and comfort is the key to | |
understanding sophisticated relationships and good communication. | |
This will lead us toward becoming autism-friendly. | |
# Chapter 1 | |
[A person with reduced social capacity will more than likely be | |
diagnosed as autistic. Also, the graphs with social versus | |
"computer" thinking assume no change, where in my experience people | |
are more dynamic than that.] | |
The fact is that current diagnosis of autism is something that is | |
performed on a qualitative basis. That means that the analyst has to | |
use her or his own better judgement. There is sometimes a bit of | |
confusion regarding the difference between high-functioning autism | |
and Asperger's syndrome, for example. A trip to see five different | |
analysts may very well yield five different professional | |
qualifications about any one client. | |
# Chapter 2 | |
Social thinking answers the question "What is going on here?" | |
Computer thinking begins with the answer from social thinking, and | |
answers the question "What is the appropriate behavior? | |
Five functions of social thinking: | |
* defining the situation | |
* locating social identities | |
* seeing the world through the eyes of others | |
* supporting assumptions of normalcy | |
* gauging time and timing. | |
One function of computer thinking: | |
* compute appropriate behavior | |
... This is one of the single greatest markers of our social | |
thinking. Not only do we have the ability constantly to define our | |
social situation, but we also have a highly developed ability to | |
sense the emotions that are appropriate for our social situation. | |
Without this important function of social thinking, we could not | |
perform the rites of social pride and social humiliation that are | |
so important to the normal world. In many ways, the amount of | |
pride you can gather for yourself and the amount of humiliation you | |
can forestall are directly related to how well you can define | |
social situations. | |
... Let's suppose you work with your spouse. You have to be able | |
to locate the identity of your spouse at home and again at work. | |
In each social situation you have to be able to assign a different | |
role to the same identity. You can't act the same way with your | |
spouse at work as you do at home. Home is a private place and work | |
is a public place. And you have to be able to locate the social | |
identity of your spouse at home or in the workplace in order to | |
know how to behave appropriately in each social situation. | |
... We have to see the world through other people's eyes in order | |
to engage in the fullest extent of interactive experience. This is | |
so critically important, not just so we can empathize with others, | |
but actually for what it means to our own sense of self. In | |
psychology they call it perspective taking, and in sociology they | |
call it role taking. Indeed, this ability to see yourself through | |
another person's eyes is the mental activity required to achieve a | |
full-blown sense of self. This concept is from a special branch of | |
social psychology called symbolic interactionism. Here is how it | |
works. | |
Imagine you are two and a half years old. It is time to eat. Your | |
mother serves the food. Tonight you are having rice. But, as soon | |
as you see the rice, you decide to have some fun. You pick up some | |
rice and throw it across the room. But your mother does not think | |
this is very funny. In fact, she gets angry and scolds you. It | |
seems that throwing rice is an action that causes grief for your | |
mother, and, consequently, for you too. | |
Now let's move to the future a few days. Tonight your mother is | |
serving rice again. And sure enough, as soon as it is served it | |
occurs to you that it would be fun to throw some rice across the | |
room. But then you remember the previous time you threw the rice. | |
You remember this made your mother angry. You relive the moment in | |
which you threw the rice, and how you mother let you know that you | |
were being bad. You reason that if you do not throw the rice your | |
mother will see you as good. And you are now able to conclude this | |
line of reasoning in the following way. "Tonight I am not throwing | |
rice and my mom sees me as being good. This is how mom sees me, and | |
this is how I see myself." | |
In that moment a sense of self is born. It is precisely this ability | |
to see yourself the way others see you that is so important to | |
attaining a sense of self. It is precisely this ability to become a | |
social object to yourself, the same way you appear as a social object | |
to others, that helps you to objectify a sense of your own self. | |
... The assumptions of normalcy represent a strange code that is | |
omnipresent in normal social life. The field of sociolinguistics | |
tells us that these assumptions of normalcy are the very glue of | |
social life. The assumptions of normalcy must be invoked and used | |
continually in order for social interaction to take place. It is | |
the assumptions of normalcy that allow us to assume social | |
interaction will be meaningful and successful. We absolutely must | |
be able to invoke these assumptions in order to be able to | |
participate in normal social life. At the same time, the stronger | |
one's autistic perception, the less one will be invoking these | |
assumptions because they are a function of social thinking. | |
Four essential assumptions of normalcy: | |
* When I communicate with other people, they will understand me. | |
* When other people communicate with me, I will understand them. | |
* If I don't understand other people now, I'll figure out what they | |
meant later. | |
* If I don't figure it out later, then it doesn't really matter | |
anyway. | |
The fact is that you would need help navigating the social world | |
unless you were able to invoke these assumptions of normalcy. You | |
would be like a stranger in a strange land if you had to question | |
everything that took place in every conversation. Without the | |
assumptions of normalcy how would one even begin to implicate oneself | |
in ongoing social life? | |
So often when someone gives us directions we are not very sure how we | |
will be able to follow them. But we always act as if we do, and we | |
proceed on the faith that we will get there somehow, even if we have | |
to ask for more directions along the way! We do this by invoking the | |
assumptions of normalcy. | |
These are explicitly social assumptions using social thinking. They | |
must be invoked as an axiomatic, or baseline, assumption, and all | |
social interaction proceeds on the basis of these assumptions. They | |
allow us to generalize about the nature of our meaningful experience. | |
Because we can invoke assumptions of normalcy we are able smoothly | |
to perpetuate our meaningful experience from one moment to the next | |
without full conscious knowledge of every detail in our perception. | |
This would be too much for us to compute as we move through | |
day-to-day events. | |
Social life would come to a grinding halt if people had to confirm | |
full understanding of every single thing that was said to them. The | |
assumptions of normalcy allow us to take our meaningful experience | |
for granted, instead of questioning everything that happens as we | |
move seamlessly from one moment to the next. | |
Conversely, in strong autistic perception we have an experience that | |
is much more literal. This perception relies on "If-Then" sequences | |
of action. So, if this person is in a new situation it will not be | |
possible to assume normalcy and to take for granted that all is well. | |
This person will not be able to know with assuredness that a mutual | |
understanding can be achieved. | |
Marriages fail and relationships fall asunder when the assumptions of | |
normalcy no longer function in their natural capacities. When the | |
assumptions of normalcy are not at work in social interaction it | |
becomes increasingly difficult to maintain focus and commitment to | |
any one version of reality. | |
In fact, a recipe for driving someone else crazy is simply to suspend | |
the assumptions of normalcy in interaction. There was a sociological | |
experiment in which college students were instructed to return home | |
for Thanksgiving break and question every aspect of their parents' | |
speech. For example, if parents ask "How do you like school?" the | |
students were instructed to respond with something like "What do you | |
mean by like, do you mean appreciate or enjoy?" To which the parent | |
might respond "Well, how do you enjoy your classes?" To which the | |
student might respond "Well, do you really want to know about every | |
single class, or just the teachers I like?" How long can this go on | |
before parents question their children's sanity? Not long at all. | |
Students reported how difficult it was to suspend these assumed | |
understandings that underlie every conversation. | |
Try it sometime. Try going against the grain and doing something | |
that is not expected of you. Try doing something that is never done | |
in social life. It is rather difficult to do. All of this | |
demonstrates the tenuous and complex achievement of social thinking | |
every day all day long. It further clarifies what is not happening | |
as much in strong autistic perception. There are numerous | |
assumptions of meaning and understanding that must be mutually upheld | |
by all parties concerned in every interaction all day long. The | |
stronger the autistic perception the less the individual will be able | |
to skate on the thin ice of these assumptions of normalcy. | |
If you had to carry a grammar book and a dictionary with you | |
everywhere you went in order to make precisely sure that what you are | |
saying is correct and intelligible, then normal conversation would | |
come to a screeching halt. Normal conversation proceeds much more on | |
the basis of assumptions of normalcy than anything else. And if | |
conversation ever becomes meaningless it might be because the | |
assumptions of normalcy have been halted or violated. | |
For example, attorneys are expert manipulators of the assumptions of | |
normalcy. In a trial, when an attorney questions the meaning of | |
every phrase, term, and nuance that is being used, sooner or later | |
all sense of normalcy vanishes. At this point reasonable doubt | |
becomes the order of the day. All you have to do, if you want to | |
shut down a conversation, is begin to question every single statement | |
that is being made. Are you sure about that? Why? Really? I'm not | |
so sure about that. What do you mean by this word? Exactly how | |
would you define that word? Search for too much clarity and the | |
conversation ends in the dark. | |
In a friendly conversation we constantly communicate agreement and | |
the assumption that we understand the other person, that we know what | |
the other person means. If you are constantly unsure about the other | |
person's meaning, then the other person becomes uneasy. By now it | |
should be apparent that social thinking is always greasing the wheels | |
of social interaction. | |
It's not so much that we know exactly what is going on in the | |
situation and in other people's minds, it's just that we care enough | |
to keep assuming that we will get clarity later if we continue | |
assuming normalcy at that moment. Social life is an orchestration of | |
mutually assumed realities. | |
... Autistic people exhibit rigid, obsessive behavior patterns. | |
But normal people are just as rigid and obsessive about being | |
normal! | |
# Chapter 3 | |
For example, since the third function of social thinking, seeing | |
yourself through the eyes of others, is the seat of the self, so to | |
speak, autistic perception will tend to be more selfless and | |
transcendent. This is an abstract concept for most people, but it | |
simply means that self is a very social thing to have, even though | |
common sense tells us that it is a very private thing. Having a | |
sense of self is a very social thing. Self is something we present | |
to others. Self is interactive. But, when we lessen the social | |
thinking, we lessen the interactive and reflective mental activities, | |
and we also become freer from a normal sense of self. | |
... Imagine not caring what is going on, what other people are | |
doing, or what they are thinking about you. Imagine not caring if | |
any effective communication ever takes place. Imagine having more | |
important things to do! With the filters of social thinking | |
dramatically dropped, the autistic person is emotionally committed | |
to their repetitive, persevering behavior. This is what they care | |
about the most. ... The worst thing that happens to an autistic | |
person is having a normal person get in their face--especially | |
someone who is trying to prevent them from continuing their | |
repetitive behavior. | |
# Chapter 4 | |
Three keys to communicating with an autistic people: | |
* stay calm. make sure you and others are relaxed and supportive. | |
* reflect their behavior. | |
* reflect their perception. | |
... The only reason there has been any success at all teaching | |
behavior modification to autistic children is because these | |
programs are based on If-Then rules for action. | |
# Chapter 5 | |
In the normal world it is extremely important that we all know who we | |
[the normal ones] are. [IOW, it is important to identify and single | |
out the abnormal people.] | |
... The normal world is a social and interactive world that is | |
completely based on repetitive behaviors! | |
author: Durig, Alexander, 1959- | |
LOC: RC553.A88D873 | |
tags: book,health,non-fiction | |
title: How To Understand Autism - The Easy Way | |
# Tags | |
book | |
health | |
non-fiction |