Why autism is different from narcissism

[Vindiesel]

If anyone for some reason wanted to know the similarity/differences

 

[Darkkin]

This series is excellent. I listen to it when I'm doing things in the kitchen or around the house. Sources are legitimate, not Youtube or TikTok self proclaimed gurus looking for likes.

 

[Vindiesel]

This series is excellent. I listen to it when I'm doing things in the kitchen or around the house. Sources are legitimate, not Youtube or TikTok self proclaimed gurus looking for likes.

Yeah she is one of my go tos for anything psychology related very informative and no attention grabbing garbage.

 

[Hypnalis]

We share an empathy deficit with the "dark triad".

But unlike them we still have the part that makes us normally disinclined to deliberately inflict discomfort on other living beings.

 

[Vindiesel]

We share an empathy deficit with the "dark triad".

But unlike them we still have the part that makes us normally disinclined to deliberately inflict discomfort on other living beings.

Anyone that is self-interested and lacks emotional empathy (on a spectrum of course) inherently has above average narcissistic traits from the perception of others and or dark triad traits.

 

[vergil96]

It rubs the wrong way to compare autism to narcissism. It sounds like a snap judgement based on "this person is evil because they are ugly" type of thing. I despise narcissists tbh. And they're very different from people on the spectrum. People on specrrum are just tactless, and narcissists lack self-reflection to not snap at every shade of offense. Prime example was one of lecturers that I had he attacked students and gave failing grades, because he misinterpreted making mistakes as something to do with him - not respecting him, not listening to him, not wanting to learn etc. Essentially bad intentions and disregard for other human beings. But people are just human and make mistakes... Tough person to be around and stuck enough in his worldview that no amount of feedback (such as "I'm doing my best and spent many hours reading lectures, but I didn't memorize everything, just half of it") could reach him. People on the spectrum might lack intuition about what others are thinking, but are open to feedback and it makes them nice to be around.

 

[Vindiesel]

I compared psychopathy to autism as well since they do share a difference in brain wiring and empathy on some levels. All I could find is a psychologist that has worked extensively with both and said asd people are oblivious if they hurt and or said or did something rude to another person. People with pyschopathy know what they did wrong and do not care. That is assuming all people with asd cant read people at all so I find that bogus.

They can have overlap but it is the underlying motive why their doing what their doing in regards to asd and npd.

For instance you have two people in the same field of work. The asd person is their special hobby they know the work in and out and work mostly alone. They have routines and parameters they follow. Then they have someone that works in their area and when they dont follow their routine or said parameters even though it does provide quality or work or it gets done correctly and the asd person has a tantrum and is extremely rude and confrontational towards the other person because this individual also has poor social skills coupled with a potential superiority complex because he knows the work in and out. At a glance that came seem narcissistic when the underlying motive is poor emotional control, lack some cognitive empathy/emotional empathy and or unable to appropriately voice his opinion without projecting his preferences with "its my way or the highway" attitude and without learning to deescalate.

You have an npd person in the same scenario he does the exact same as above except his motive is control his environment and everyone is to serve him and is inferior to his knowledge or status regardless of their knowledge or merit.

At a glance they can be inherently be similar.

The way to tell the difference is in how they are receptive to feedback.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

I don't think we have an empathy deficit, collectively speaking. Logic can easily be applied to emotion. Also, the idea that we lack empathy comes from being measured by non-Autistic standards and communication. It's not like we're exactly the same, except can't read them. They have the same difficulty reading us, as well.

Some Autistics are just lazy, too. They see people behaving differently and assume those people are wrong, because those people see and behave differently. Yet, those people clearly share a view and behavior, so it's not as simple as one group being right and the other being wrong. Anyone can figure this out.

Many people will point out that dark triad types do have empathy, they just lack compassion. In other words, they can read people well, they just don't care. It's also been said that they are good at understanding others, but cannot understand themselves. This is why the narcissist can easily manipulate others, but lives in a fantasy based on self-image.

Part of the reason we're mistaken for narcissists is we don't mirror others' emotions/behavior. This expectation is itself narcissistic, though we all need validation. While we do talk a lot about our interests, we are also not grandiose. I'm not sure why the difference is hard for non-Autistic people to get. Then again, many are repeatedly fooled by narcissistic politicians and business leaders because those people tell them what they want to hear.

Honestly, I doubt many here are confused about the differences between ASD and NPD. I can't say I've met anyone in real life who is, either. This seems like an outdated view to me, like he "refrigerator mom" theory.

 

[Vindiesel]

Humans classifying humans with subjective metrics on a vast continuum will always net ignorance.

People are too quick to judge but that is the nature of humans the difference is if we let our preconceived notions affect our behavior towards another without having enough patterns or facts of the other person. This is where remaining neutral and treat others like you want to be treated saying comes in to play and come from a place of understanding instead of judgement/label.

 

[vergil96]

I'm not sure why the difference is hard for non-Autistic people to get.

For those receptive to feedback it's not hard to get. And those who can self-reflect that their first impression might be wrong.

 

[Jordy]

Autism can impact someone's empathy.

 

[Jordy]

Reminds me of this site
https://www.theneurotypical.com/articles_page.html

 

[Vindiesel]

Reminds me of this site
https://www.theneurotypical.com/articles_page.html

I read a few articles in there....reeks of ignorance and false information...oof

 

[Jordy]

I read a few articles in there....reeks of ignorance and false information...oof

Its a bunch of bitter divorced woman complaining about their ex-husbands and diagnosing them with aspergers.

 

[Vindiesel]

Its a bunch of bitter divorced woman complaining about their ex-husbands and diagnosing them with aspergers.

Yeah those people are my favorite....or those that actually were married to a narcissist and take it upon themselves to educate the world and incessantly bash them predicated on their one experience with one possible narcissist. If you apply some rationale or question their education/experience they call you a narcissist. Joys of diversity. Ive experienced this a lot on quora.

 

[Jordy]

Ive experienced this a lot on quora.

Quora people really are something else. Full of condescending, pretentious armchair psychologists.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

Yeah those people are my favorite....or those that actually were married to a narcissist and take it upon themselves to educate the world and incessantly bash them predicated on their one experience with one possible narcissist. If you apply some rationale or question their education/experience they call you a narcissist. Joys of diversity. Ive experienced this a lot on quora.

Why does this offend you?

 

[Vindiesel]

I wouldn't use the word "offend" maybe irks me on the incessant bashing part with memes and expletive language thats all. Education is a great thing.

 

[Wolfnox]

I think Batman would be a good example of the contrast.

 

[Jordy]

Some people have build so much of their world view and understanding of personal relationships on pseudo-psychology blogposts and self-help books written by questionable figures with no credibility or authority. To me it seems that these people cling very stubbornly on to their nonsense believes because it's the only way they have been making sense of the world. You will find a lot of these people Quora. The thread about "very grand emotions" reminded me of them too.

Like you get people who are so obsessed with narcissism that they will start interpret all their struggles in social relationships as signs that they or someone is narcissistic. That's sad. Those narcissism public speakers are part of this problem.