Autism and the Inability to “Mentalize” May Diminish Faith and Belief in God
People with traits associated with autism, particularly traits associated with mentalizing deficits, are less likely to believe in God, according to a new study
Autism and the Inability to “Mentalize” May Diminish Faith and Belief in God
BY CHRISTINE HSU | MAY 31, 2012
People with traits associated with autism, particularly traits associated with mentalizing deficits, are less likely to believe in God, according to a new study.
The latest discovery strengthens the psychological theory that the likelihood of having religious belief largely depends on the ability for “theory of mind” or ‘mentalization’, a concept described as being able to imagine what others are thinking and to perceive and interpret behavior in terms of intentional mental states.
Because one of the trademarks of autism spectrum disorders, a group of developmental conditions marked by communication and social difficulties, is the inability to infer and respond to what other people are thinking, researchers speculated whether mentalizing deficits associated with the disorder would affect an individual’s likelihood for religious belief.
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