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The phrase black-and-white thinking has become closely associated with autism, and there seems to be a commonly held belief that it is one of the defining characteristics of autism. Like many common assumptions about autism, it is frequently repeated in the media and on social media, often without reference to the evidence. Today, I am going to examine where this idea came from, and see if there is any evidence to support it.
My Story
Nearly forty years ago, I started my first proper full-time job. I did well in it, and quickly achieved a position of responsibility. When the company I worked for took a sudden and unexpected change of direction, it left me and many other employees worrying about our future. Conversations were had about looking for other jobs. My line manager at the time told me I should look for a bigger company to work for, that had a firmer structure. I asked him why he thought that would be right for me, and he replied with something along the lines that firm structure would suit my personality type.
Years later, as I began to achieve some success in a management career with a large company, one of the traits I was recognised for was my structured, well-organised way of working. I was often praised for my process management. It could be argued that this was because I thought in rigid terms, and that, in retrospect, it made sense that I was good at structured working and process management, considering I ended up with an autism diagnosis. But that would be very simplistic reasoning.
I had both strengths and weaknesses as a manager. My strength in process management came from my thinking style. In contrast to some stereotypical depictions of autistic people, I am a conceptual thinker. When managing a department, I always made sure I understood how all the different parts of the operation worked together, and how changing one routine or process could have knock-on effects downstream.
One thing I often used to say about my approach to management was this: There is rarely, if ever, only one “correct” way to manage a department. The key is to pick one method in which all parts work together, and stick with it. This was in contrast to, for example, implementing a patchwork approach of trying this thing that worked once before, and that thing that someone recommended, and this other thing you read about in a management textbook, etc. I had to have a structured, interlocking way of working, in which the gears turned the wheels efficiently, and I stuck to it.
Was my approach an example of black-and-white thinking? Is that one of my autistic traits?
What is Black-and-White Thinking?
Black-and-white thinking is also known as dichotomous thinking, all-or-nothing thinking, and splitting. In psychology, it is regarded as a cognitive distortion in which people think in extreme, binary terms: There is wrong or right, with no room for middle ground; something is moral or immoral with no grey areas. Black-and-white thinking eschews nuance and uncertainty and comes down firmly in one of two opposing views.
American psychiatrist Aaron Beck (1921-2021) was influential in the field of cognitive psychology, and described dichotomous thinking (commonly called black-and-white thinking) as a reaction to stress, anxiety, and depression. This pattern of thinking was recognised across the general population, not as unique to autism.
Examples of black-and-white thinking include things like:
- “I didn’t get the job I applied for, therefore I am unemployable.” The middle ground here is that you’ve failed to get one specific job; you can still apply for other jobs.
- “My partner and I had a terrible argument; therefore our relationship is finished.” The nuance is that couples can and do recover from arguments, and often learn from disagreements.
These kinds of doubts and worries affect all people, not just autistic people.
Is Black-and-White Thinking Part of the Autism Diagnostic Criteria?
The diagnostic criteria used in autism assessments are typically those in either the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) or the International Classification of Diseases (ICD). Neither of these manuals mentions black-and-white thinking or dichotomous thinking as diagnostic criteria.
Both manuals do mention thinking and behavioural styles considered typical of autism, and these include behavioural rigidity, and inflexible thinking, but these are not the same as black-and-white thinking. To illustrate the differences, here are some examples:
| Construct | What is inflexible? | Example |
|---|
| Behavioural rigidity | Behaviour | “I always eat the same breakfast.” |
| Cognitive rigidity / inflexibility | Ability to change one’s thinking | “I’ve learned a rule, and I find it difficult to switch to a different rule when circumstances change.” |
| Black-and-white (dichotomous) thinking | Structure of beliefs or judgements | “People are either good or bad.” |
If black-and-white thinking is not part of the diagnostic criteria, it is fair to ask how and why it has become so closely associated with autism.
Why is Black-and-White Thinking Associated With Autism?
In 2005, psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen and his team at the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre published a research paper that detailed the Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA).
The AAA was a diagnostic tool created for use in the Cambridge Lifespan Asperger Syndrome Service (CLASS) clinic, in response to an increase in adults seeking a diagnosis.
One of the justifications for the creation of the AAA was to prevent false-positive diagnoses. They did this by making the AAA diagnostic criteria more conservative and stringent than the DSM and ICD.
The AAA was a diagnostic tool, designed to assist clinicians in assessments of adults. It was not a diagnostic manual providing a full clinical description of autism, as in the DSM and ICD. Nevertheless, it was developed by one of the world’s leading autism research centres, and as a result, it became very influential among professionals in the field.
In creating their own diagnostic criteria for the AAA, which were more stringent than those in the DSM and ICD, Simon Baron-Cohen and his team at the University of Cambridge Autism Research Centre included a characteristic that was not part of the official diagnostic criteria. This characteristic was black-and-white thinking.
In AAA, black-and-white thinking is described as a “tendency to think of issues as being black and white (e.g. in politics or morality), rather than considering multiple perspectives in a flexible way”.
As the AAA became increasingly influential, the proposed characteristic of black-and-white thinking may have become part of how autism came to be understood by professionals, and by the public.
Why was Black-and-White Thinking Included in the AAA?
In the 2005 paper that introduced the AAA, the authors explained why they wanted to develop a new assessment tool (they believed the DSM criteria were too broad for diagnosing adults), and they explained the methodology used to construct the AAA, but they didn’t explain why each criterion was selected.
The paper itself does not provide any explicit empirical justification for the inclusion of black-and-white thinking as a characteristic of autism. Considering how closely associated with autism black-and-white thinking has become, it is fair to look for evidence to explain its inclusion in the AAA. Given how influential this idea has since become, the omission is worthy of attention.
Research and Evidence
There is surprisingly little research on black-and-white thinking in autism, but in the work that has been done, the outcomes have, ironically, been rather more nuanced than giving a firm yes or no answer to the question of whether it is a characteristic of autism.
One of the first studies to examine the question directly was published in 2023. Rather than studying diagnosed autistic people, the researchers measured autistic traits in two non-clinical groups of adults. They also measured the relationship between intolerance of uncertainty (IU) and dichotomous thinking, using a standard psychological questionnaire.
The researchers found that autistic traits were associated with greater IU, and also that IU was associated with higher scores on the dichotomous thinking questionnaire.
However, once IU was controlled for, autistic traits themselves were actually associated with lower scores on dichotomous thinking.
The authors concluded that the relationship is likely to be mediated by IU, rather than autistic traits directly leading to black-and-white thinking.
The study has several important limitations. It relied on self-report questionnaires, used non-clinical participants rather than diagnosed autistic people, and did not establish cause and effect. Nevertheless, it demonstrated that the relationship between autism-related traits and black-and-white thinking is considerably more complex than the popular stereotype implies.
There is another reason to interpret the findings with caution. The questionnaire used to measure dichotomous thinking includes statements such as I want to clearly distinguish what is safe and what is dangerous alongside much stronger statements like People can clearly be distinguished as being good or bad, and There are only winners and losers in this world. These questions appear to reflect several different concepts. A preference for clarity or well-defined boundaries is not the same thing as believing that all people or situations can only be understood in extremes.
In light of the work by Aaron Beck, which, as we have seen, characterised dichotomous thinking as a reaction to stress, anxiety, and depression across all of the general population, the fact that intolerance of uncertainty mediates dichotomous thinking in people with autistic traits does not appear to prove that it does so only in people with autistic traits.
Why it Matters: Stereotyping
Many autistic people report frustration at being stereotyped. By definition, stereotypes flatten individual differences in people. Where autism is concerned, stereotypes reduce autistic people from living, thinking, feeling individuals to a label. This in itself is distressing, but if the characteristics associated with the stereotype are incorrect, the problem is compounded.
The autism stereotype may lead to people pejoratively dismissing an autistic person’s firm opinions as just black-and-white thinking. This is part of a wider dismissal of autistic people’s abilities and judgement in general. Personally, I have experienced this in stark fashion, having seen people’s reactions to me change dramatically from before I knew I was autistic, to after coming out as autistic.
If autistic people are assumed to think in simplistic or inflexible ways, that assumption may affect how their judgement is perceived by others. Although it is difficult to measure the impact of any single stereotype, autistic adults experience poor employment outcomes and many report feeling that their abilities are underestimated in the workplace.
Some time ago, I spoke to an employment coach who specialised in supporting autistic people. This person confirmed that it is common for autistic people to be leapfrogged for promotion or professional development by non-autistic colleagues.
Personal Reflection
I have a formal diagnosis, which reads, Autism Spectrum Disorder (formerly Asperger Syndrome). I would therefore have fallen under the AAA criteria had they been applicable at the time of my diagnosis. However, I feel more than capable of nuanced thinking. My conversations with other autistic people show me that many of them are also clearly capable of nuanced thought.
However, I am aware that some autistic people have concerns about experiencing black-and-white thinking in themselves, so I am not claiming that no autistic person ever thinks in those terms. But if we accept that black-and-white thinking is something that can be experienced throughout all neurotypes in the population (as per Beck), and that many autistic people are clearly capable of nuanced thought, it seems unwise to use black-and-white thinking as a defining characteristic of autism.
Conclusion
Black-and-white (dichotomous) thinking has long been associated with autism, even though it has never been part of diagnostic criteria in the DSM or ICD.
The association appears to have its roots in a paper setting out more restricted diagnostic criteria than in the DSM and ICD, to be used as a diagnostic tool when assessing adults. This tool, known as the Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA), was formulated at one of the world’s leading autism research centres, at Cambridge University. However, the paper does not explain why the criterion of black-and-white thinking was included.
The AAA was very influential, and so the idea that black-and-white thinking was characteristic of autism may have played a part in how autism came to be understood by professionals, and by the public.
Research into black-and-white thinking in autism has been limited, but evidence so far suggests the relationship between autism and black-and-white thinking is more complex than the stereotype that has emerged since the 2005 paper on Adult Asperger Assessment (AAA).
I would like to suggest that the lesson here is not about the question of whether autistic people do or do not think in black and white. It is that claims about autistic people deserve the same level of scrutiny as claims about anyone else.
I was surprised to find that one of the most common stereotypes about autistic people rests on far weaker evidence than many people might assume.
It is not my intention to argue that no autistic people ever think in black and white. Instead, I am asking a relevant question: what is the evidence? Science advances by testing ideas rather than repeating them, and perhaps it’s time that this common assumption about autistic thinking was subjected to a scientific level of scrutiny.
That’s all for this time. Take care.
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