Increased prosocial value orientation in autistic adults.
Paul Ag Forbes, Gillian Hughes, Leonhard Schilbach and 2 others
PMID 41157913WHAT IT FOUND
Autistic adults made more prosocial money choices toward socially distant others than non-autistic adults.
The difference was not explained by repetitive responding or money attitudes.
Key findings
01Autistic adults showed a less steep decline in prosocial sharing as social distance increased.
02Autistic adults had more prosocial SVO angles than non-autistic adults at social distance 50.
03The group difference was not explained by repetitive responding or attitudes toward money.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used a laboratory money allocation task, so it does not show how autistic adults behave in everyday sharing or social situations. Participants were adults in the UK who had verbal speech and lower support needs, so the findings do not cover all autistic people. The study compared autistic and non-autistic adults rather than testing a treatment, so it cannot show that autism causes greater prosociality. Some group differences at social distances 20 and 100 were uncorrected, so those should be treated cautiously. One autistic participant had a missing SVO angle for social distance 1.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The study was supported by a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship from the European Commission.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as showing that autism causes greater prosocial behaviour in daily life. The study compared autistic and non-autistic adults on a slider-based money allocation task, and the participants were UK adults with verbal speech and lower support needs.
Summarised by AI from the full paper, without a clinician reviewing it. Check it against the source before it changes what you do. Read it on PubMed →