Theory of Mind and Moral Decision-Making in the Context of Autism Spectrum Disorder.

J Autism Dev Disord

ACSENT Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.

Published: April 2022

Social impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been linked to Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits. However, little research has investigated the relationship between ToM and moral decision-making in children with ASD. This study compared moral decision-making and ToM between aggregate-matched ASD and neurotypical boys (n = 38 per group; aged 6-12). In a third-party resource allocation task manipulating recipient merit, wealth, and health, neurotypical children allocated significantly more resources to the morally deserving recipient, suggesting equitable allocation. A comparatively larger portion of the ASD group allocated equally. ToM emerged as a predictor of moral decision-making. We suggest that ToM (cognitive empathy) deficits may underly atypical moral decision-making in ASD by limiting the integration of empathic arousal (affective empathy) with moral information.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05055-zDOI Listing

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