Self- and other-descriptions by individuals with autism spectrum disorder in Los Angeles and New Delhi: Bridging cross-cultural psychology and neurodiversity

Decades of cross-cultural research have shown that self-concepts vary across cultural contexts. However, it is unclear whether individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), who have impairments in selfand other-understanding, will acquire the relevant cultural patterns regarding selfand other-concepts; or whether their social impairments will extend to broader cultural impairments. Here we present the first examination, to our knowledge, of selfand other-concepts in a cross-cultural sample of individuals with ASD in Los Angeles, USA, and New Delhi, India, compared with matched control groups in each culture. We used a modification of the well-known 20 statements description task, and coded participants’ responses according to 28 sub-categories, along the axes of autonomous/social and abstract/specific. When describing themselves and their favorite fictional characters, participants in Los Angeles provided significantly more autonomous and abstract descriptions than participants in New Delhi, as expected from their different locations. Surprisingly, we found no effect of diagnostic group on the content of participants’ responses, suggesting that individuals with ASD are indeed capable of acquiring the cultural scripts that surround them—at least on a cognitive, verbal level—despite their neurocognitive impairments. These results & Rachel S. Brezis [email protected] 1 Sagol Center for Mind and Brain, School of Psychology, Interdisciplinary Center (IDC), Herzliya, Israel 2 Action for Autism, New Delhi, India 3 Westat, Durham, NC, USA 4 NHS Forth Valley, Scotland, UK 5 Center for Culture & Health, University of California, Los Angeles, USA 6 Departments of Psychiatry (Semel Institute, Center for Culture & Health) and Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA 123 Cult. Brain DOI 10.1007/s40167-016-0040-9 Author's personal copy