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Theory of mind, perceived intentions and reciprocal behaviour: Evidence from individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder

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  • Pelligra, Vittorio
  • Isoni, Andrea
  • Fadda, Roberta
  • Doneddu, Giuseppe

Abstract

Evidence suggests that departures from pure self-interest are due, at least partly, to individuals conditioning their behaviour on the perceived intentions of others. We present a new experiment that refines the study of intention-based other-regarding motives. Using a series of mini-ultimatum games that have been extensively studied in the literature, we compare the behaviour of normally-developing (ND) children to that of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), who typically lack the ability to attribute intentions to the observed actions of others. We find that ND children’s rejection behaviour responds systematically to changes in the set of available options, in line with previous findings. ASD children’s rejections are virtually unaffected by the intentions that could be inferred from the games’ strategy space. These differences are mainly driven by ASD children with low mentalising abilities.

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  • Pelligra, Vittorio & Isoni, Andrea & Fadda, Roberta & Doneddu, Giuseppe, 2015. "Theory of mind, perceived intentions and reciprocal behaviour: Evidence from individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 95-107.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:joepsy:v:49:y:2015:i:c:p:95-107
    DOI: 10.1016/j.joep.2015.05.001
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    Cited by:

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    2. Landry, Peter, 2021. "A behavioral economic theory of cue-induced attention- and task-switching with implications for neurodiversity," Journal of Economic Psychology, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Social preferences; Theory of mind; Intention detection; Autism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C72 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Game Theory and Bargaining Theory - - - Noncooperative Games
    • C91 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Laboratory, Individual Behavior

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