Chidambi, Gayathri; (2003) Autism and self-conscious emotions. Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).

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Abstract

The topic of this thesis is the recognition and expression of pride, guilt, shame and coyness by children with autism. It was hypothesised that these self-conscious emotions develop through a child's ability to identify with others' attitudes towards the self and that children with autism have a limited ability to identify with others this way. Correspondingly, it is expected that they will be limited in their ability to express and perhaps experience these emotions. The series of studies presented in this thesis investigate the recognition and expression of these self- conscious emotions in children with autism, relative to a chronological and verbal age matched group of children without autism. In the first study, parents were asked to describe a range of socio-emotional behaviour of their children with autism. The second study focused on parent reports of the expression of pride, guilt and shame in their children. The third study examined participants' recognition of these emotions in video-clips of enacted scenarios. Participants were then interviewed to explore their own experiences of pride, guilt and shame. Finally situations were designed to elicit pride, guilt and coyness in participants and their responses were recorded and rated. The results from the studies offer substantial but qualified support for the hypothesis. Collectively, they present a complex picture of both spared and impaired aspects of pride, guilt, shame and coyness in children with autism.

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