Brief Report: Stereotypes in Autism Revisited

Autism involves core impairments in social cognition. Given that social learning underlies the acquisition of stereotypes, it was hypothesized that use of stereotypes would be reduced in autism. Contrary to this prediction, previous studies found the same use of stereotypes in autistic individuals as in controls. Measurement of stereotypes, however, can be biased by effects of social desirability, which previous studies did not account for. In the current study we therefore employed an implicit approach, using the Implicit Association Test (IAT), which assesses more automatic components of stereotypes, in nineteen individuals with autism and nineteen controls. The data suggest that while both groups do show the use of stereotypes to some extent, autistic individuals have less stereotypical attitudes against the investigated minority.