An observation about "theory of mind deficits" in #autism: what's missing in our relationship to other minds is not a THEORY. It's a set of "click, whirr" automatic shortcut mechanisms for dealing with the social world that neurotypicals use INSTEAD OF the explicit, conscious reasoning that reliance on an actual theory would entail. It's what I've termed the #EnvironmentalYoke. It's what advertising and propaganda exploit, in ways that influence expert Robert #Cialdini has built a career exposing. It's likely a large part of the reason why we're less susceptible to advertising than neurotypicals are.
It would be closer to the truth to say that NEUROTYPICALS lack a theory of mind. They actually do have one, but they mostly don't need to use it; their instinctive reactions, driven by their environmental yoke, mostly render actual theorizing unnecessary. It is WE who must reason explicitly about other minds if we are to understand them at all.
The pernicious and misleading "theory of mind deficit" / #mindblindness terminology is frequently misunderstood by the public to mean that #autistics cannot even understand the CONCEPT of other minds. From that misunderstanding, it's only a short step to regarding autistics as subhuman. The #mindblindness theory is thus a major contributor to bigotry against autistics, as Morton Ann #Gernsbacher has so eloquently pointed out.
I also have personal experience with another problem that #mindblindness theory can cause. I suspected that I might be autistic "or something like that" for DECADES before I finally reached the conclusion that I was, in late 2024. A major reason why it took so long: I, too, misunderstood #mindblindness theory to mean that autistics literally couldn't understand the concept of other minds; I knew that wasn't true of me; I accepted the #mindblindness theory as the best explanation of autism that psychological science could currently offer; and I concluded that I couldn't be autistic!
It's time to bury the "theory of mind deficit" / #mindblindness idea with a stake through its heart. We should avoid using this terminology except to criticize it — and demand that psychology professionals do the same. They can and should find more accurate terminology to express their findings about our neurodivergent relationship with other minds.
@autistics
