Social decision making in autistic adolescents: the role of theory of mind, executive functioning and emotion regulation

Kate Woodcock, Catherine Cheung, Daniel González Marx, William Mandy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1 Citation (Scopus)
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Abstract

Social decision making is often challenging for autistic individuals. Twenty autistic adolescents made decisions in the socially interactive context of a one-shot ultimatum game, and performance was compared to a large matched typical reference sample. Theory of mind, executive functioning and emotion regulation were measured via direct assessments, self- and parent report. Relative to the reference sample, autistic adolescents proposed fewer fair offers, and this was associated with poorer theory of mind. Autistic adolescents responded similarly to the reference sample when making decisions about offers proposed to them, however they did not appear to down regulate their negative emotion in response to unfair treatment in the same way. Atypical processes may underpin even apparently typical decisions made by autistic adolescents.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2501-2512
Number of pages12
JournalJournal of Autism and Developmental Disorders
Volume50
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 16 Mar 2019

Keywords

  • Autism spectrum disorder
  • ASD
  • Social decision making
  • Emotion regulation
  • Executive functioning
  • Theory of mind

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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