“WHAT will the neighbours think?” is a question people with autism are unlikely to ask. While the rest of us tend to act more charitably when being watched, those with autism are just as generous when alone.
at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and colleagues gave $45 to 10 people with autism and to 11 without, with the option of donating various portions to charity. When under a watchful eye, non-autistic people donated more often and more generously than when alone. People with autism were unaffected by the observer (, ).
Weighing up how we think our actions will be evaluated by others is a complex cognitive task, says Izuma. People with autism may not be influenced in the same way because they are less able to deduce the opinions of the observer.
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Situations that are normally socially rewarding fail to activate brain-reward circuitry in autistic children, Izuma adds, so they may also find the idea of a good social reputation less rewarding.
