ERIC Number: EJ1419091
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 11
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1362-3613
EISSN: EISSN-1461-7005
Autistic Adults Show Enhanced Generosity to Socially Distant Others
Paul A. G. Forbes; Irini Chaliani; Leonhard Schilbach; Tobias Kalenscher
Autism: The International Journal of Research and Practice, v28 n4 p999-1009 2024
Sharing resources is fundamental for human cooperation and survival. People tend to share resources more with individuals they feel close to compared to those who are more socially distant. This decline in generosity at increasing social distance is called social discounting and is influenced by both social traits and abilities, such as empathy, and non-social psychological factors, such as decision-making biases. People who receive a diagnosis of autism show differences in social interaction as well as displaying differences in non-social domains, such as more restricted and repetitive behaviours. We investigated social discounting in autism and found that autistic adults were more generous than neurotypical participants, which was driven by greater generosity to socially distant others. Crucially, we also investigated framing effects during prosocial decision-making. Autistic participants were less susceptible to whether decisions were framed as causing monetary gains, compared to preventing monetary losses, for the potential recipient. Our results support the view of 'enhanced rationality' in autism as participants' prosocial decisions were less influenced by potential biasing information, such as the closeness of the recipient or how choices were framed. Therefore, the differences seen in autism, as well as posing certain challenges, can also have prosocial consequences.
Descriptors: Autism Spectrum Disorders, Adults, Prosocial Behavior, Altruism, Social Distance, Interpersonal Relationship, Decision Making
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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