Asperger Through the Looking Glass: An Exploratory Study of Self-Understanding in People with Asperger’s Syndrome

Hobson (Autism and the development of mind. Lawrence Erlbaum, Hove, UK 1993) has proposed that the cognitive and linguistic disabilities that characterise autism result from abnormalities in inter-subjective
engagement during infancy, which in turn results in impaired reflective self-awareness. The aim of the present study was to
test Hobson’s hypothesis by examining self-understanding in Asperger’s syndrome (AS) using Damon and Hart’s (Self-understanding
in childhood and adolescence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988) model of self-concept. Ten participants with Asperger’s syndrome were compared with ten non AS controls using the Self-understanding
Interview (Damon and Hart in Self-understanding in Childhood and Adolescence. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1988). The study found that the Asperger’s group demonstrated impairment in the “self-as-object” and “self-as-subject” domains
of the Self-understanding Interview, which supported Hobson’s concept of an impaired capacity for self-awareness and self-reflection
in people with ASD. The results are discussed with reference to previous research regarding the development of self-understanding
in people with ASD.