Born on the Wrong Planet?Born on the Wrong Planet?

Using Forum Postings to Test Using Forum Postings to Test Hypotheses about Special Interests and Hypotheses about Special Interests and Religious Beliefs of Autistic Spectrum Religious Beliefs of Autistic Spectrum

Young AdultsYoung Adults

Professor Catherine Caldwell-Harris,Department of Psychology, Boston University

Why analyze forum postings?Why analyze forum postings?

• How do discussion forums function for your autistic spectrum friends, family members, patients, clients?

• Valuable and rich source of information about feelings and attitudes of those with ASD

• Test specific hypotheses

• Drawbacks of forum analysis?Drawbacks of forum analysis?

What isWhat is ??Online community designed and created

for individuals and family members of individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

• Category-based discussion boards (post topics about a specific category, seeking responses)

• Blogs (members post longer pieces)• Chatroom (converse freely)• Articles (articles relating to ASD are identified

and discussed)

Examples of Discussion BoardsExamples of Discussion Boards

General Autism DiscussionGetting to know each otherAutism Politics, Activism, and Media RepresentationLove and DatingParents DiscussionSocial Skills and Making FriendsWork and Finding a JobArt, Music, Writing Politics, Philosophy, ReligionAdult Autism IssuesComputers, Math, Science and TechnologyWomen’s DiscussionAdolescent Autism Forum

Who’s on the wrong planet?Who’s on the wrong planet?

• Age range: 13 - 50 years.• Individuals who "identify with" the Autism

Spectrum Disorder community• Family members, usually seeking advice,

better understanding of ASD• North America, UK, Australia, misc.

• Possibly also: Individuals seeking a specific type Possibly also: Individuals seeking a specific type of social interaction….?of social interaction….?

Information on user profilesInformation on user profiles

Date of birth, sex, location, Interests

Date joined WrongPlanet

Total posts, with a link to view all posts

Diagnosis, one of the following:• Asperger’s syndrome-Diagnosed• Asperger’s syndrome-Undiagnosed• other Autism Spectrum Disorder• “Not sure if I have it or not”• Neurotypical

Frequency of Diagnostic CategoryFrequency of Diagnostic CategoryMembers use diagnosis as part of personal description

in this community

– Autism Spectrum Disorder diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder and are high functioning (7%)

– Asperger's syndrome Diagnosed (60%)

– Asperger's syndrome undiagnosed- members who feel they meet criteria for Autism Spectrum Disorder but have not been clinically diagnosed (15%)

– “not sure if I have it or not”- representative of members who may not meet all criteria for Asperger's syndrome but strongly identify with certain behavioral/cognitive tendencies (eg. Poor social skills, high systemizes) (15%)

– Neurotypical- members who are seeking advice about a friend/family member with Autism Spectrum Disorder, or are simply interested in Autism Spectrum Disorder (3%)

"Autism Religion Project""Autism Religion Project"

We propose that the intellectual strengths of

individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder…– emphasis on logic– attraction to systematization

…in addition to their social-emotional deficits– reduced empathy– reduced orientation to social rewards

…are likely to influence their belief systems

Characteristics of HighFunctioning Autistics

Correlated pattern of religiosity

Existing proposals (more oriented to autism, not Aspergers Syndrome)

Hypoactive agency detection Incline away from supernaturalism(Deeley, 2009)

Need for sameness andpredictability

Beliefs are rigid and doctrinaire(Dubin & Graetz, 2009)

Difficulty navigating new socialrelations

Appreciation of socially welcomingreligious community (Dubin & Graetz,2009)

Our new proposals for HFA and AS (C. Caldwell-Harris & Wesley Wildman)

Concrete; literal-minded; Preference for logical beliefs

Discomfort with symbolicfluidity

Avoidance of metaphoric construalsof religious texts and practices

Interest in systemizing,combined with reduced need forsocial conformity

Reject organized religion; constructon religious system

Forum Analysis MethodForum Analysis Method

Analyzed Religion/Philosophy/Politics forumAll posters in a single year (March 2008-Feb 2009;

approx. 200) who stated their religious beliefs.

– Our categorization of the religious belief

– Justification (quote from forum stating religious belief)

– Autism Spectrum Disorder Style Thinking (quote demonstrates logic, systematizing, norm-rejection…)

– URL (to facilitate inter-rater reliability)

Belief Orientation DefinitionsBelief Orientation Definitions• Atheist- explicitly describes themselves as atheist,

professes non-belief in a deity, states they believe it is impossible for a god to exist, refers to themselves as non-believer.

• Agnostic- explicitly describes themselves as agnostic, expresses uncertainty in the existence of god, states one cannot know if god exists, states it is impossible to prove or disprove the existence of a deity

• Atheist/Agnostic- individuals who use both the terms atheist and agnostic to describe their religious beliefs.

Example“Raised without religion, became catholic for two

weeks, but then logics won”

Belief Orientation DefinitionsBelief Orientation DefinitionsNon-specified theistic- mentions a deity when belief

system is described, but does not include enough information to further classify the belief.

Christian- describes being a Christian or practicing a form of Christianity; references Jesus as integral part of faith.

Constructed own system• Cominbed two or more faiths (has actively chosen

specific aspects of certain religions to accommodate to their own preferences)

• Describes system they have constructed

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are needed to see this picture.

Belief OrientationBelief Orientation

Wrongplanet vs. Boston Univ students Wrongplanet vs. Boston Univ students 

Wongplanet % College students %Atheist 22 15Individual 22 --Christian 18 41Agnostic 12 11non-specified theistic 8 --non-specified non-theistic 5 --Atheist/Agnostic 4 --Other 8 8Buddhist -- 3Muslim -- 3Jewish -- 2Hindu -- 1

But how is religion discussed by young But how is religion discussed by young adults in neurotypical forums? adults in neurotypical forums? 

http://teenforums.student.comLarge number of discussion boards concerning religion.

      Discussion boards included in our study:•             “What is the probability of God?”•             “What is God to you?” www.golivewire.com/forumsSeveral discussion boards relating to religion. Arguments

for and against   religious beliefs, doctrines, etc.Discussion boards included in our study:•             “Do you believe in a higher power?”•             “I don’t understand religion” 

Broad Impression…Broad Impression…

• Wrongplanet posters resembled members of American Atheists clubs: displaying hyper-logical reasoning style and concern about whether God exists.

• Teen/young adult neurotypical websites center around the intersection of religion and morality.  

Discussed themes onDiscussed themes onNeurotypical forumsNeurotypical forums

Morality and the social issues involved with religious discussion 

Science and Religion 

Dogmatic Assertion (Blind Faith) 

Why are Christians obsession with death? 

Anger at God

Frequency (1-7 scale) Neurotypical and Frequency (1-7 scale) Neurotypical and

Autism Spectrum ForumsAutism Spectrum Forums   Trends most frequent on

neurotypical ForumsNeurotypical

Forums

Autism Spectrum Forums

Morality and social issues involved with religion (abortion, gay marriage)

6 2

Science and religion 5 5

Dogmatic Assertion of Religious Identity (Blind Faith)

2 1

Christian obsession with death 1 1

Anger at God 2 2

Trends Most frequent on Wrongplanet

Neurotypical Forums

Autism Spectrum Disorder Forums

Constructing one’s own religion

0 7

Detailed Personal Journey 0 3

Adverse to closedness of organized religion

2 4

Proof based discussions 0-1 7

Bible Contradictions 1 4

Frequency (1-7 scale) Neurotypical and Frequency (1-7 scale) Neurotypical and Autism Spectrum Forums Autism Spectrum Forums 

Autism and Special InterestsAutism and Special Interests

• Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder show intense focus on restricted topics, pursued with unusual intensity.

• Special interests range:– Atypical (deep fat fryers, toilet brushes)

– Circumscribed (frogs, World War I Biplanes, Star Wars)

– Overlap with neurotypical hobbies (horses, swimming, role-playing games)

• 90% of individuals with Aspergers Syndrome develop "Special Interests" (Attwood, 2003).

What is known about Autism What is known about Autism Spectrum Special Interests?Spectrum Special Interests?

• Baron-Cohen & Wheelwright’s (1999) discussion of increased folk physics intuitions, decreased folk psychology intuitions.

• Attwood (2003) suggests special interests serve to reduce anxiety.

• Winter-Messiers et. al (2007) observed that social functioning improves when an individual is discussing their special interest.

Special interests exist on a continuum Special interests exist on a continuum with normal hobbies/interestwith normal hobbies/interest

From savant syndrome through high functioning Autism and Aspergers syndrome, to neurotypical individuals.

The Special interests continuum can be quantified by "grain size".

Compact: small grain size, rule-governed, deterministic, e.g., math, physics, programming

Diffuse: large grain size, fuzzy, prototypes, far assocations; resists definition, eg., poetry.

• Can we predict grain size of the special interest?– Local processing bias– Cognitive style (systemizing/empathizing)

Our project goals Our project goals (grant pending)(grant pending)

• Verify the existence of a Special Interests continuum using the Special Interest Granularity scale.

• Ascertain effects of local processing bias and cognitive style on continuum placement.

• Determine interactions between special interests and social impairment:– Correlate with content and intensity of the SI or

directly exacerbate the SI?

What are some categories of SI’s What are some categories of SI’s on Wrongplanet?on Wrongplanet?

• Math, Science• Machines,

Technology• Vehicles• Wikipedia• Language• Historical Time

Periods/ Events• Inanimate Objects• Politics/ Government

•Mental Disorders/ Autism Spectrum Disorder•Animals and Plants•Games•Places/ Cultures•Food/Drinks •Mythology•Religion•Philosophy

"Numbers" …. "Writing""Numbers" …. "Writing"  

• I am also interested in numbers and the patterns i can create with them. i develop new interests often. to memorize numbers by rote is not what i like to do. i know about 40 phone numbers and 10 pin numbers. if i string them all together in alphabetical order of name attached, then i can recite a 440 item number series. i learned a reasonably accurate value of a radian for programming purposes (57.29577951308232 is all i remembered as that was all that was needed) anyway i am intrigued by numbers and how they behave in a sea of numbers. recently i have been processing filthy data that comes from supermarkets with all types of errors in their files. i am refining an error trapping mechanism that is like a triangulating shock absorber.  

• Here is my Introduction to my short story Digging in the Dirt:

I was forty and it was a beautiful summer. A Saturday. The bridge next to my house was being demolished, and the rural highway in front of our property was closed. I was supremely content. There was no traffic and no noise except the xxxxxx River flowing over a stony bed. The swallows that normally live under the bridge were gone. I was alone and indulging myself in an activity I have enjoyed since I was a child – digging in the dirt.

Rule-governed, narrow, restricted…Rule-governed, narrow, restricted…  • Math, Science: “I have a "problem” with mathematically modeling

everything I can.” 

• Machines, Technology: “I love the order and the methodical nature of computers. They are predictable and reasonable, unlike humans.” 

• Vehicles: “I LOVE CARS!! Cars, trucks, motorcycles ...anything with an engine. I have 4. (a daily driver, a Jeep, a Jetta and a Chevy to bring it to the race track) I love working on them, I love talking about them and I like seeing what others do to theirs. I sell car parts and photograph motorsports as a living. I collect cars items and memorabilia. I read no less than a dozen auto trade (service) and auto hobbist magazines.” 

• Wikipedia: “Wikipedia is what the world would like if the world were governed by aspies with a lot of free time”

• “I read up on a topic, then that aspie curiosity kicks in, as I click another link, then another, and another. Just pouring over pages and pages of information. Then I realize a few hours have passed”  

Medium grain size?Medium grain size?• Inanimate Objects: “I have a growing collection of flag clothing - which im very

rarely seen without at least 1 item of on me. i kiss my flags – passionatly. i occasionally talk to my flags - not things that i expect a responce from - just comments like - 'youve got a thread pull - naugty flaggy i have to sort that for u!’’ wanna know the weirdest thing of all though?? im English!”

• Animals/Plants: “I love cats. It's very easy for me to make friends amongst cats” 

• Food/Drinks: “I am obsessed with food. I love to eat, look at the food in the supermarket, and have all things fruit related all through my room.” 

• Language: “I mastered the grammar by reading French grammar books and websites obsessively (e.g., 501 French Verbs has a grammar section). I also wrote tons of things in French (usually silly things), read up on French culture, read French newspapers online, and watched French news on TV (with subtitles). At the same time, I was developing an obsessive interest in linguistics, so I studied the phonetics and phonology of French to learn how to pronounce French more authentically.”

• Historical time periods/events: “Yesterday I ordered HO scale model Big Top, Menagerie, Sideshow, Dining, Kitchen, Horse Top, and Dressing Room circus tents for a full circus model. Now I am researching all I can about circuses and sideshows---mainly during the historical period of the early to mid 20th century.” 

Diffuse, Large grain size Diffuse, Large grain size 

• Politics/ Government: “I am Political junkie, die hard liberal, Adlai Stevenson Democrat ( look it up!) completely devastated by what the Bushies have done to our beautiful experiment in a democratic republic. I log into TalkingPointsMemo.com at 5:25 AM and check in all day (I have devised a scheme to do so at work) sometimes chaffing that there has been no updates for three whole minutes. GoogleNews, al Jazeria, Manchester Guardian, Xiang News service, I sleep with either KGO radio from SanFrancisco or the BBC overnight service in my ear.”  

• Mental Disorders/ Autism Spectrum Disorder: “I am a psychology student. I personally am obsessed with Abnormal Psychology and Biopsychology and where the two cross over. I recommend going to a local university library and going through their psychology journals. American Journal of Psychology is good. They maybe even have some kind of computer system that will let you search for specifics of articles to make it easier.”  

Overlapping with Neurotypical HobbiesOverlapping with Neurotypical Hobbies  • Games: “I like board games because of all the rules, optimization of

moves and shiny pieces, but never have anyone to play with. I played a few games against myself a few years ago, but that becomes to predictable soon. Now I just collect rules and design some mechanics myself.” 

• Places/Cultures: “I am obsessed with India, for a long time. I read everything I can, try recipes, and talk excessively about the culture, it's customs, languages, etc.  

• Mythology: I'm a huge fan of mythology. I started out obsessed with Egyptian then Greek and now Celtic. I got many books of mythology spend hours reading about it” 

• Religion: “I have my own religion that i created by taking things from various religions and philosophies which I call Integeria. I am integerian. I think it's good for people to take out what they believe and make it their own religion.”

• Philosophy: "I have assumed that people can help others, out of compasion and empathy without necessarily expecting some retribution, obviously with some sort of limit, without stop caring about oneself, that is, without having to self-sacrifice or self-damaging"

Overlapping with Neurotypical HobbiesOverlapping with Neurotypical Hobbies

• People: “My obsessions are "things" that I can't get enough of and can't stand them to ever end...So for me,most my BF's were more obsession then love.” 

• The Arts: (Music, Writing, Art, etc.): “If you listen to song 4000 times and are not bored of them, its not what NTs would call normal. All Aspies are weird anyway, its a good thing the way I see it.”

• “I have been obsessed with music for as long as I can remember. I can play many different instruments, and was in the orchestra and choirs throughout school. I would spend hours in my bedroom at home either listening to music, practising, taping myself playing and then playing different scores with myself.  I now love sitting in cathedrals when a service is on, and love the sound at xmas carol services. I also have many many CD's, of varying types of music which I listen to over and over again

• Writing: “I love writing and I do not find dialogue difficult. Fictional dialogue is somewhat different than real dialogue, as it usually has a point, and is going towards something - it has its place in the grand scheme of things, and things that are said must be said, or at least lead to something that must be said. I cannot say the same thing of most conversations between people in the real world.”

Overlapping with Neurotypical HobbiesOverlapping with Neurotypical Hobbies  • Novels: “I love House of Leaves because it has enough layers to keep

the inquiring mind interested in figuring out the many meanings within the pages. In fact, if you're of that mindset, this book almost seems made for literary Aspies. 

• Video/Computer Games: “I think my obsession with The Sims stems from the ability to have complete control over lives and socializing being as simple as a mouse click! If only real life were that easy.” 

• TV Shows/Movies: “My best social moments would have to be when talking to other aspies or (crazily enough) talking about SpongeBob.” 

• Sports: “My normal obsession is baseball. I live by the games every summer and watch them all. I go to several Red Sox games a year too. I also love the stats of baseball and by the end of the year, I'll know every baseball stat there is from who has the highest batting average, the the most homer runs, to the most wins, lowest ERA, ect.”  

What we’ve found so far…What we’ve found so far…

• Special Interests on Wrongplanet.net showed the variability that has been previously discussed (Winter-Messiers 2007).

• Some posters flaunted their high Autism Quotient scores and posted pages of mathematical formulae

• Some posted queries such as “Is it normal that my special interest is writing?”

• Advice about how to deal with special interests that are the same as neurotypical hobbies such as sports.

Why does social ability improve Why does social ability improve when discussing a special interest?when discussing a special interest? Test two possibilities (C. Caldwell-Harris)

• Executive functioning and social scaffolding theory

• Social demotivation theory

We are designing a task, "Special Interests Peer Expert Conversation"

Four conditions and theoretical predictions; “novice” displays no expertise on the SI; “expert” contributes facts and expertise

ConversationTopic

Discussionunrelated to

SIDiscussion

of SI

Discussion of SI(experimenter

requires that SI beexplained)

Discussion of topicwhich is a prior SI*

ContributionofConversationPartner

Peer refusesto engage SItopic

Peer-experton SI whocontributesto SI topic

Peer-novice will notprovide informationon SI; SI must beexplained

Peer-expert on theprior SI contributesto topic

Expectedexecutivefunctioning

Poor: Noexpertise ontopic, noscaffoldingby partner

Good: Topicexpertise,scaffoldingby partner

Medium-to-Low/Mixed: Hastopic expertise, noscaffolding by partner

Good: Topicexpertise,scaffolding bypartner

Expected socialrewards

Low: Norewards

High:Rewarded byspecialinterest

High: Rewarded byspecial interest

Low: prior SI is notrewarding*

Good: Demotivationtheory supported

Poor: Demotivationtheory supportedMedium: Boththeories supported

Predictedsocialcompetence

Poor socialabilitypredicted byboth theories

Good socialabilitypredicted byboth theories

Medium-poor:Executive functioning/ scaffolding theorysupported

Good: Executivefunction /scaffolding theorysupported

Table Notes. *Pre-visit phone interview will determine current and prior SI and whetherprior SI is rewarding.

Other tasks for laboratory visitOther tasks for laboratory visit

Tasks designed to further research religious beliefs

Tasks designed to learn more about Special Interest

Animacy detection Animacy detection • Guthrie (1993) postulated that religious belief is

heavily predicated upon the human tendency to promiscuously attribute agency.– Autistic individuals are presumed to be deficient in

this ability, as it is a facet of theory of mind. – It therefore follows that autistics may not be prone to

supernatural agency detection like most people.

• We have proposed three different laboratory tasks in order to test the hypothesis that autistic individuals will tend to detect agency to a lesser extent than neurotypicals.

Empirical tests Empirical tests 

• Geometric shapes task– The task will measure the degree to which

autistics and neurotypicals attribute mental states to geometric shapes that appear self-propelled and that perform familiar actions.

– This methodology has been previously used in neurotypical populations by Heider and Simmel, 1944; Abell et al., 2000; and others.

Empirical tests Empirical tests 

• Intentional vs. accidental acts– In order to further test the differences in

judgments of agency and intentionality between these two populations, participants will be asked to judge the degree of agency present in ambiguous sentences (e.g., “he broke the window”) under speeded and unspeeded conditions (after Rosset, 2008).

Empirical tests Empirical tests 

• Agent type and agency attribution– Finally, in order to determine whether certain

entities are attributed with more agency than others, autistics and neurotypicals will be asked to judge the mental capabilities of various natural and nonnatural agents and objects. (Biological and physical capabilities will also be judged, to serve as controls.)

Special Interest Project Special Interest Project Methodology Methodology

Laboratory protocol also includes: • Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule-

Generic (ADOS-G; Lord et al., 2000)

• “Reading the Mind in Films” Task (Golan, Baron-Cohen, & Golan, 2008)

• The Embedded Figures Test (Benton & Spreen, 1969)

• Empathy Quotient and Systemizing Quotient-Revised (Baron-Cohen et. al, 2003-2006)

Caitlin Murphy Chloe Jordan Josh Rottman Tessa Velazquez Noelle Nero

Research Assistants at Boston University

Questions? Questions? • How are the posters from wrongplanet.net similar or

different to autistic spectrum persons you know or see in clinics?

• Not ASD -- instead, geeky normals?• Is it legitimate to draw conclusions about ASD from

analysis of discussion board postings?• Advice on procedures we've proposed for the laboratory

visit?

ReferencesReferencesAbell, F., et al.(2000). Do Triangles Play Tricks? Attribution of mental states to animated shapes in normal and

abnormal development. Cognitive Development. 15, 1-16.

Attwood, T.(2003). Learning and Behaviour Problems in Aspergers Syndrome. New York: Guilford Press

Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Stone, V., & Rutherford, M. (1999c). A mathematician, a physicist, and a computer scientist with Asperger Syndrome: performance on folk psychology and folk physics test. Neurocase, 5, 475-483.

Benton AL, Spreen O. (1969) Embedded Figures Test. Manual of Instructions and Norms. Univ Victoria: Neuropsychological Test Sales.

Golan, O., Baron-Cohen, S., Golan, Y. (2008). The ‘Reading the Minds in Films’ Task [Child Version]: Complex Emotion and Mental State Recognition in Children with and without Autism Spectrum Conditions. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 38, 1534-1531.

Guthrie, S. (1993). Faces in the Clouds: A new theory of religion. New York: Oxford University Press

Heider, F., Simmel, M. (1944). An Experimental Study of Apparent Behavior. The American Journal of Psychology, 57(2), 243-259.

Lord, C., et al. (2000). The Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule—Generic: A standard measure of social and communication deficits associated with the spectrum of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 30 (3), 205-223.

Rosset, E., (2008). It’s no accident: Our bias for intentional explanations. Cognition, 108, 771-780.

Winter-Messiers, M. (2007). From Tarantulas to Toilet Brushes: Understanding the Special Interest Areas of Children and Youth With Asperger Syndrome. Remedial and Special Education, 28(3), 140-152.