Knowing Me, Knowing You: Spontaneous Use of Mentalistic Language for Self and Other in Autism

Autor/inn/en	Zinck, Alexandra; Frith, Uta; Schönknecht, Peter; White, Sarah
Titel	Knowing Me, Knowing You: Spontaneous Use of Mentalistic Language for Self and Other in Autism
Quelle	In: Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, 25 (2021) 1, S.164-175 (12 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Zinck, Alexandra)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1362-3613
DOI	10.1177/1362361320951017
Schlagwörter	Autism; Pervasive Developmental Disorders; Language Usage; Speech; Adults; Theory of Mind; Individual Characteristics; Foreign Countries; United Kingdom (London); Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Autismus; Sprachgebrauch; Speaking; Sprechen; Personality characteristic; Personality traits; Persönlichkeitsmerkmal; Ausland
Abstract	Recent studies on mentalizing have shown that autistic individuals who pass explicit mentalizing tasks may still have difficulties with implicit mentalizing tasks. This study explores implicit mentalizing by examining spontaneous speech that is likely to contain mentalistic expressions. The spontaneous production of meta-statements provides a clear measure for implicit mentalizing that is unlikely to be learned through experience. We examined the self- and other-descriptions of highly verbally able autistic and non-autistic adults in terms of their spontaneous use of mentalistic language and meta-representational utterances through quantitative and qualitative analysis. We devised a hierarchical coding system that allowed us to study the types of statements produced in comparable conditions for the self and for a familiar other. The descriptions of autistic participants revealed less mentalistic content relating to psychological traits and meta-statements. References to physical traits were similar between groups. Within each group, participants produced a similar pattern of types of mental utterance across 'self' and 'other' conditions. This suggests that autistic individuals show a unique pattern of mental-state-representation for both self and other. Meta-statements add a degree of complexity to self- and other-descriptions and to the understanding of mental states; their reduction in autism provides evidence for implicit mentalizing difficulties. (As Provided).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01