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Behavioral Sciences
Special Issues
Social Processing in People with or without Autism
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Social Processing in People with or without Autism

A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X). This special issue belongs to the section "Psychiatric, Emotional and Behavioral Disorders".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 August 2024 | Viewed by 14063

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Renae Beaumont

E-Mail Website1 Website2
Guest Editor
Department of Psychiatry - Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10021, USA
Interests: autism; digital therapeutics; implementation science; social cognition

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Social processing shapes our interactions and connections with others, as well as how we form and maintain relationships and navigate disagreements and conflicts. This Special Issue of Behavioral Sciences will showcase the latest theoretical and empirical advances in our understanding of social processing in people with and without autism.  

Topics include (but are not limited to): 

  • The impact of socio-cultural factors such as age, culture, gender and socio-economic status on social processing.
  • The impact of intrapersonal (e.g., mood, fatigue), situational (e.g., personal significance), and stimuli-specific factors (e.g., valence and positivity/negativity of emotional cues; static versus dynamic stimuli; stimulus modality) on social processing.
  • Studying differences in social information processing in person versus online.
  • Showcasing new measures used to assess how social information is encoded, interpreted, and responded to.
  • Highlighting unique strengths associated with a neurodiverse social processing profile.
  • Presenting novel tools and approaches to address social processing challenges.
  • Exploring how social distancing from COVID-19 has impacted human social information processing. 

Submissions describing original empirical research, particularly those created/co-created by autistic individuals, are encouraged. 

Dr. Renae Beaumont
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • social cues
  • social cognition
  • autism
  • neurodiversity
  • emotion processing
  • theory of mind
  • empathy
  • social skills

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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11 pages, 233 KiB  
Article
The Effect of the Secret Agent Society Group Program on Parent-Teacher Agreement Regarding Children’s Social Emotional Functioning
by Shannon Gasparro, Shannon Bennett, Katarzyna Wyka, Andrea Temkin-Yu, Andreas Damianides and Renae Beaumont
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 322; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13040322 - 10 Apr 2023
Viewed by 1587
Abstract
Differences in social-emotional processing and functioning characterize children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Anxiety Disorders. These can contribute to difficulties forming friendships and secondary challenges such as academic underachievement, depression, and substance use in adolescence. To be [...] Read more.
Differences in social-emotional processing and functioning characterize children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and Anxiety Disorders. These can contribute to difficulties forming friendships and secondary challenges such as academic underachievement, depression, and substance use in adolescence. To be optimally successful, interventions typically require parents and teachers to have a shared understanding of a child’s social-emotional needs and use consistent support strategies across home and school environments. However, research is yet to examine the effect that clinic-based programs have on parent-teacher agreement regarding children’s social-emotional functioning. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first published study to explore this. A sample of eighty-nine youth (aged 8 to 12 years) with ASD, ADHD, and/or an Anxiety Disorder participated in the Secret Agent Society Program. The Social Skills Questionnaire and Emotion Regulation and Social Skills Questionnaire were administered to parents and teachers at pre-program, post-program, and six-month follow-up. Parent-teacher agreement was assessed at each time point. Pearson Product Moment correlations and intraclass correlations indicated that parent-teacher agreement on the measures of children’s social-emotional functioning improved over time. These findings suggest that clinic-based programs can contribute to key stakeholders developing a shared understanding of children’s social-emotional needs. The implications of these findings and directions for future research are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Processing in People with or without Autism)
11 pages, 309 KiB  
Article
Emotional Dysfunction and Interoceptive Challenges in Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorders
by Saray Bonete, Clara Molinero and Daniela Ruisanchez
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(4), 312; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13040312 - 05 Apr 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2641
Abstract
People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently show impaired sensory processing in different senses, including the interoceptive system. Recent findings suggest that interoception is a fundamental component of emotional experience and that impaired interoception is associated with alexithymia. This study aims to explore [...] Read more.
People with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) frequently show impaired sensory processing in different senses, including the interoceptive system. Recent findings suggest that interoception is a fundamental component of emotional experience and that impaired interoception is associated with alexithymia. This study aims to explore the association and interrelation between interoceptive confusion, alexithymia, and the capacity for emotional regulation among a sample of 33 adults with ASD compared to a control group of 35 adults with neurotypical development and its mutual impact. The participants answered a series of questionnaires addressing these three variables. The results showed (1) significant differences between the groups in all dimensions, with dysfunctional emotional regulation, impaired interoception, and alexithymia in the ASD group, (2) significant correlations between interoceptive confusion, emotional clarity, and alexithymia in the ASD group but only positive correlations between interoceptive confusion and alexithymia in the CG, and (3) that emotional clarity, alexithymia, and autism explain 61% of the variance in interoceptive confusion. These results are in line with previous studies and suggest that training interoceptive ability may enhance emotional clarity and reduce alexithymia among those diagnosed with ASD, with significant implications in the planning of treatment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Processing in People with or without Autism)
12 pages, 1180 KiB  
Article
Emojis Are Comprehended Better than Facial Expressions, by Male Participants
by Linda Dalle Nogare, Alice Cerri and Alice Mado Proverbio
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(3), 278; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13030278 - 22 Mar 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 8196
Abstract
Emojis are colorful ideograms resembling stylized faces commonly used for expressing emotions in instant messaging, on social network sites, and in email communication. Notwithstanding their increasing and pervasive use in electronic communication, they are not much investigated in terms of their psychological properties [...] Read more.
Emojis are colorful ideograms resembling stylized faces commonly used for expressing emotions in instant messaging, on social network sites, and in email communication. Notwithstanding their increasing and pervasive use in electronic communication, they are not much investigated in terms of their psychological properties and communicative efficacy. Here, we presented 112 different human facial expressions and emojis (expressing neutrality, happiness, surprise, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust) to a group of 96 female and male university students engaged in the recognition of their emotional meaning. Analyses of variance showed that male participants were significantly better than female participants at recognizing emojis (especially negative ones) while the latter were better than male participants at recognizing human facial expressions. Quite interestingly, male participants were better at recognizing emojis than human facial expressions per se. These findings are in line with more recent evidence suggesting that male individuals may be more competent and inclined to use emojis to express their emotions in messaging (especially sarcasm, teasing, and love) than previously thought. Finally, the data indicate that emojis are less ambiguous than facial expressions (except for neutral and surprise emotions), possibly because of the limited number of fine-grained details and the lack of morphological features conveying facial identity. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Processing in People with or without Autism)
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8 pages, 721 KiB  
Brief Report
Consideration of Future Consequences Affects the Perception and Interpretation of Self-Conscious Emotions
by Hyeman Choi
Behav. Sci. 2023, 13(8), 640; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs13080640 - 01 Aug 2023
Viewed by 929
Abstract
Differentiating guilt from shame expressed by others is important because self-conscious emotions have disparate behavioral consequences. The present study examined whether a future-relevant nature of an event (i.e., future opportunity) and an observer (i.e., consideration of future consequences) can impact the perception and [...] Read more.
Differentiating guilt from shame expressed by others is important because self-conscious emotions have disparate behavioral consequences. The present study examined whether a future-relevant nature of an event (i.e., future opportunity) and an observer (i.e., consideration of future consequences) can impact the perception and interpretation of shame and guilt experiences. Participants (N = 109) read a scenario that described a target person who neglected his duty on a team project, then rated their perceived intensity of the target’s shame and guilt and their estimation of future behavior change by the target. The results showed that the participants who cared about distant future consequences (i.e., high in consideration of future consequences) thought the target person would change in the future when they believed that the target person would have an opportunity (vs. no future opportunity) to change the outcome of the event. This effect was fully mediated by the guilt intensity ratings, indicating that guilt signals future behavior change. The implications for the value of communicating self-conscious emotions are discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Social Processing in People with or without Autism)
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