Mind-blindness

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Mind-blindness can be described as an inability to develop an awareness of what is in the mind of another human. It is not necessarily caused by an inability to imagine an answer, but is often due to not being able to gather enough information to work out which of the many possible answers is correct.

Much of the information is gathered by reading body language and so a person with pervasive developmental disorders such as autism or Asperger syndrome would be at least partially mind-blind due to their inability to read, or impairment in reading body language.

Courses that teach how to read body language are available. It has been suggested that these can reduce the degree to which mind-blindness is present. Of course these instructional methods require a basic assumption that the physical expressions of individuals in the wild are reflective of the mental state of the individuals. This however, is not always the case. In many instances among human interactions, we mask our mental states using body language that is intentionally incongruent. It is not always true that a smiling person is happy, nor is it always true that a sad person does not laugh.

Some question the use of body language instruction as a means to understand the mind of humans when the world as it exists currently requires hidden agendas and even outright dishonesty. It may be that this focus on body language as a means to gaining insight into the minds of others leaves autistics at a disadvantage in a world populated by neurotypicals who understand how to manipulate others using body language. By nature, autistics struggle with the topic of honesty and their mindblindness may be partly due to an understanding of the incongruency of body language and thought in humans. Some notable autistics, including Temple Grandin, do not have these difficulties with nonhuman animals, because nonhuman animal behavior patterns are more consistently indicative of their true states of mind.

[edit] In science fiction

Mind-blindness refers to an inability to mind read or having one’s mind read. It can also mean lacking the essential empathy that makes humans bond with other people. For example, in Star Trek and especially in Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Mr. Spock is attempting to attain the state of kolinahr on Vulcan, the elimination of all emotional vestiges.

[edit] References

• Geoffrey Cowley, "Understanding Autism," Newsweek, July 31, 2000.
• Simon Baron-Cohen, "First lessons in mind reading," The Times Higher Education Supplement, July 16, 1995.