The empathy imbalance hypothesis of autism: a theoretical approach to cognitive and emotional empathy in autistic development.(Report): An article from: The Psychological Record

This digital document is an article from The Psychological Record, published by The Psychological Record on June 22, 2009. The length of the article is 11311 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: There has been a widely held belief that people with autism spectrum disorders lack empathy. This article examines the empathy imbalance hypothesis (EIH) of autism. According to this account, people with autism have a deficit of cognitive empathy but a surfeit of emotional empathy. The behavioral characteristics of autism might be generated by this imbalance and a susceptibility to empathic overarousal. The EIH builds on the theory of mind account and provides an alternative to the extreme-male-brain theory of autism. Empathy surfeit is a recurrent theme in autistic narratives, and empirical evidence for the EIH is growing. A modification of the pictorial emotional Stroop paradigm could facilitate an experimental test of the EIH.

Citation Details
Title: The empathy imbalance hypothesis of autism: a theoretical approach to cognitive and emotional empathy in autistic development.(Report)
Author: Adam Smith
Publication:The Psychological Record (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 22, 2009
Publisher: The Psychological Record
Volume: 59 Issue: 3 Page: 489(22)

Article Type: Report

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