The Roots of Mindblindness

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Abstract
This paper challenges the hypothesis that the type of social impairment observed in children with autism is evidence of an underlying malfunction in their ‘Theory of Mind’, resulting in ‘mindblindness’. To establish this point, the paper takes up two interesting ideas in the Theory of Mind literature, purged of their Cartesianism: first, that the study of autism does indeed provide us with critical insights into the development of social understanding and empathy; and, second, that no meaningful distinction can be drawn between a child’s interpersonal and intrapersonal development. The paper seeks to show how the ability to understand someone else’s thoughts and emotions is a product of endless co-regulated interactions in which the child’s own emotions and sense of self develop. The reason why children with autism so frequently exhibit impaired social relatedness is because basic biological challenges—such as sensory over-and under-reactivity—inhibit their ability to engage in these co-regulated interactive experiences.

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