Do you feel me? Autism, empathic accuracy and the double empathy problem

Abstract

Empathy deficits in autism, particularly cognitive empathy, have been a long-held, but much debated assumption. An alternative perspective challenging this deficit model is the ‘double empathy problem’, proposing that empathy difficulties are bidirectional between autistic and non-autistic people. Despite this view gaining popularity, there has been limited research examining whether non-autistic people can empathise accurately, cognitively and affectively with autistic people. Addressing this gap, 81 adults from the general population, divided into groups based on how likely they are to share personality traits common in autistic people, were examined using an empathic accuracy task, modified to include autistic and non-autistic narrators and combined with a body mapping tool. Results showed participants had significantly lower empathic accuracy scores when viewing autobiographical accounts of emotional events from autistic narrators, compared to non-autistic narrators, especially for happy and sad emotions. However, participants also experienced significantly higher intensity in the body when viewing autistic narrators compared to non-autistic narrators, especially for anger and fear emotions. These findings support the double empathy problem and have strong implications for therapeutic and interpersonal relationships with autistic people.