For the posts in this series, I will be painting with a broad brush. Psychological issues are rarely black and white; most are unbelievably complicated. Teams of psychologists take years—decades, at times—to sort through someone's brain. To cover a subject as convoluted as autism in short blog posts gives me pause, but I think it necessary to at least start the discussion.
Behavior occurs as someone interacts in his environment. It can be voluntary or involuntary, conscious or subconscious. It can be learned or may be instinctual. But in all of it, it is never meaningless. It serves a function or produces an outcome in order to coordinate a person with his/her environment. One of the primary influences on human behavior is empathy (1), which can be divided into three types: cognitive, emotional, and affective.
Cognitive empathy refers to identifying the needs of others and the ability to understand why they do what they do (also called perspective taking, theory of mind, or ‘putting oneself in another's shoes’) (2). If I see you carrying groceries toward a closed door, I know you need the door to open, and you might need me to open the door for you. That identification of need stems from cognitive empathy.
Cognitive empathy is the gatekeeper of the other two empathy types:
Emotional empathy is the ability to feel what another person is feeling. If you are grunting because the groceries are heavy, I feel tired, too. If you tell me your dog died, I feel a pang of sadness, as well. If you slam your hand in the car door, I cringe. This is an emotional response to someone else's pain (3).
Affective empathy is the empathy that drives someone to help. It's what makes me open the door for you and your groceries, or pull a drowning victim from the water, or pat someone on the shoulder. It moves me to action [Note: there are some who group emotional and affective empathy into the same category (2)].
I saw the need (cognitive empathy),
I felt the need (emotional empathy),
and I helped with the need (affective empathy).
Do note that in all of those situations, I have to identify the need first. This underscores the importance of cognitive empathy.
In subsequent articles, I will discuss empathy disorders with a focus on autism, the role autism plays in homicidal and terroristic acts, and how those in EMS can help persons with autism.
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1. Baron-Cohen, Simon, and Sally Wheelwright. "The Empathy Quotient: An Investigation Of Adults With Asperger Syndrome Or High Functioning Autism, And Normal Sex Differences."Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders: 163-75. http://isik.zrc-sazu.si/doc2009/kpms/Baron-Cohen_empathy_quotient_2004.pdf.
2. Rogers, Kimberley, Isabel Dziobek, Jason Hassenstab, Oliver T. Wolf, and Antonio Convit. "Who Cares? Revisiting Empathy In Asperger Syndrome." Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 37, no. 4, 709-15. http://www.cog.psy.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/papers/2007/Rogers(2007)_JAutismDevDisord.pdf.
3. Minio-Paluello, Ilaria, Michael Lombardo, Bhismadev Chakrabarti, Sally Wheelwright, and Simon Baron-Cohen. "Response to Smith's Letter to the Editor 'Emotional Empathy in Autism Spectrum Conditions: Weak, Intact, or Heightened?" Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders 49, no. 12, 1749. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-009-0800-x.
