Autistic Adults May Be Erroneously Perceived as Deceptive and Lacking Credibility

Alliyza Lim; Robyn L Young; Neil Brewer

doi:10.1007/s10803-021-04963-4

Autistic Adults May Be Erroneously Perceived as Deceptive and Lacking Credibility

J Autism Dev Disord. 2022 Feb;52(2):490-507. doi: 10.1007/s10803-021-04963-4. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Authors

Alliyza Lim¹, Robyn L Young², Neil Brewer²

Affiliations

¹ College of Education, Psychology, and Social Work, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia. alliyza.lim@flinders.edu.au.
² College of Education, Psychology, and Social Work, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide, South Australia, 5001, Australia.

Abstract

We hypothesized that autistic adults may be erroneously judged as deceptive or lacking credibility due to demonstrating unexpected and atypical behaviors. Thirty autistic and 29 neurotypical individuals participated in video-recorded interviews, and we measured their demonstration of gaze aversion, repetitive body movements, literal interpretation of figurative language, poor reciprocity, and flat affect. Participants (N = 1410) viewed one of these videos and rated their perception of the individual's truthfulness or credibility. The hypothesis was partially supported, with autistic individuals perceived as more deceptive and less credible than neurotypical individuals when telling the truth. However, this relationship was not influenced by the presence of any of the target behaviors, but instead, by the individual's overall presentation.

Keywords: Autism; Credibility; Deception; Perceptions.

MeSH terms

Adult
Autism Spectrum Disorder* / diagnosis
Autistic Disorder* / diagnosis
Humans
Language

Grants and funding

DP190100162/Australian Research Council