Social conformity and autism spectrum disorder : a child-friendly take on a classic study

Perhaps surprisingly, given the importance of conformity as a theoretical construct in social psychology and the profound implications autism has for social function, little research has been done on whether autism is associated with the propensity to conform to a social majority. This study is a modern, child-friendly implementation of the classic Asch conformity studies. The performance of 15 children with autism was compared to that of 15 typically developing children on a line judgement task. Children were matched for age, gender and numeracy and literacy ability. In each trial, the child had to say which of three lines a comparison line matched in length. On some trials, children were misled as to what most people thought the answer was. Children with autism were much less likely to conform in the misleading condition than typically developing children. This finding was replicated using a continuous measure of autism traits, the Autism Quotient questionnaire, which showed that autism traits negatively correlated with likelihood to conform in the typically developing group. This study demonstrates the resistance of children with autism to social pressure

Managing the research imagination? Globalisation and research in higher education

This paper argues that, during the late twentieth and early twenty‐first centuries, universities have been captured by neo‐liberal regimes of truth. We suggest that this may inhibit the ‘research imagination’ within universities and, consequently, their role in the democratisation of knowledge. We consider the role of capital in the globalisation of higher education, and the resulting global circulation of people and knowledge. We then examine how what we have termed the ‘neo‐liberal colonisation’ of higher education has been achieved, ending with a discussion of the implication of these processes for the idea of the research imagination in universities

Peers Influence Prosocial Behavior in Adolescent Males with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Peer influence has a profound impact on decision-making in typically developing adolescents. In this study, we examined to what extent adolescent males (age 11–17 years; N = 144) with and without autism (ASD) were influenced by peer feedback on prosocial behavior, and which factors were related to individual differences in peer feedback sensitivity. In a public goods game, participants made decisions about the allocation of tokens between themselves and their group—in absence or presence of peer feedback. Adolescents with and without ASD were sensitive to peer feedback on prosocial behavior. More autism traits and social interest were associated with less sensitivity to antisocial feedback, suggesting that peer feedback creates opportunities for social adjustment in those with and without ASD.Pathways through Adolescenc