Abstract
Social impairment in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) has been linked to Theory of Mind (ToM) deficits. However, little research has investigated the relationship between ToM and moral decision-making in children with ASD. This study compared moral decision-making and ToM between aggregate-matched ASD and neurotypical boys (n = 38 per group; aged 6–12). In a third-party resource allocation task manipulating recipient merit, wealth, and health, neurotypical children allocated significantly more resources to the morally deserving recipient, suggesting equitable allocation. A comparatively larger portion of the ASD group allocated equally. ToM emerged as a predictor of moral decision-making. We suggest that ToM (cognitive empathy) deficits may underly atypical moral decision-making in ASD by limiting the integration of empathic arousal (affective empathy) with moral information.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Professor Jean Decety and the Child NeuroSuite at the University of Chicago for making the Distributive Justice Task available for use in this study. We would also like to thank Kirsty Carter for her support throughout the research process as a fellow ASD researcher. The authors did not receive support from any organisation for the submitted work. No funding was received for conducting this study or to assist with the preparation of this manuscript. During her MA degree, while conducting this research, Jessica E. Ringshaw was supported by a Masters Research Scholarship from the University of Cape Town. Katie Hamilton has received support from the Harry Crossley Foundation and National Research Foundation for her research work.
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JER is the primary author of this paper which was conducted in affiliation with the University of Cape Town. Data collection for the study was conducted by both JER and KH. Study conception and design, material preparation, data analysis, and the interpretation of results was conducted by JER with input and supervision from SMS and KH. JER drafted and revised the manuscript with guidance and critical review from SMS and KH. All authors provided approval of the final version to be published.
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The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare that are relevant to the content of this article. All authors certify that they have no affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest or non-financial interest in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript. The authors have no financial or proprietary interests in any material discussed in this article.
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This study was approved by the University of Cape Town’s institutional Faculty of Health Sciences Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC Reference: 346/2017) and the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Humanities (Reference: PSY2016-015). The authors of this study certify that it was conducted in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki, as revised in 2013.
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Ringshaw, J.E., Hamilton, K. & Malcolm-Smith, S. Theory of Mind and Moral Decision-Making in the Context of Autism Spectrum Disorder. J Autism Dev Disord 52, 1693–1711 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05055-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05055-z