Sublime

standard psychological Attachment Scale that measures your social style

In that inquiry, we dig deeply into the case studies of neurodiverse writer Naoki Higashida, the civil rights movement’s Freedom Schools, and interdisciplinary scholar par excellence Leonardo da Vinci.

The latter pair were investigating Benjamin Franklin’s claim that he could easily turn an enemy into a friend with one simple act—asking them for a favor.

For brains, the equivalent of the software is the cognitive processes that allow the brain to think through what is going on in a social situation and to make predictions about how people will react if you behave in different ways. We actually have to learn much of that.

Since we’re a social species, it is intelligent for us to convince ourselves of irrational beliefs if holding those beliefs increases our status and well-being. Dan Kahan calls this behavior “identity-protective cognition” (IPC).

According to one of the leading autism researchers, Simon Baron-Cohen, there are in fact two spectra, two dimensions on which we can place each person: empathizing and systemizing. Empathizing is “the drive to identify another person’s emotions and thoughts, and to respond to these with an appropriate emotion.”13 If you prefer fiction to nonfiction