title: Brief report: Impression formation in high-functioning autism: role of nonverbal behavior and stereotype activating information.
abstract: Little is known about whether stereotypes influence social judgments of autistic individuals, in particular when they compete with tacit face-to-face cues. We compared impression formation of 17 subjects with high-functioning autism (HFA) and 17 age-, gender- and IQ-matched controls. Information about the profession of a job applicant served as stereotype activating information. The target person's nonverbal behavior was presented as a computer animation showing two virtual characters in interaction. Contrary to our hypothesis, HFA participants were as sensitive to nonverbal cues as controls. Moreover, HFA showed a tendency to evaluate persons more positively. This might indicate a routine HFA apply in impression formation in order to compensate for their deficit in intuitive understanding of nonverbal communication cues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Social Psychology, University of Cologne, Herbert-Lewin-Street 2, 50931, Cologne, Germany, caroline.schwartz@gmx.de.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Schwartz
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dratsch
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vogeley
authors.forename: Gary
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bente
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009633:Nonverbal Communication; D013240:Stereotyping; D055815:Young Adult