In psychology and sociology, masking, also known as social camouflaging, is a defensive behavior in which an individual conceals their natural personality or behavior in response to social pressure, abuse, or harassment. Masking can be strongly influenced by environmental factors such as authoritarian parents, social rejection, and emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Masking can be a behavior individuals adopt subconsciously as coping mechanisms or a trauma response, or it can be a conscious behavior an individual adopts to fit in within perceived societal norms. Masking is interconnected with maintaining performative behavior within social structures and cultures. [1]
Masking has existed since antiquity, with authors like Shakespeare referencing it in fiction long before masking was formally defined and studied within psychology. [2] Frantz Fanon is credited with defining masking in his 1957 Black Skin, White Masks, which describes masking behavior in race relations within the stratified post-war United States. [1] [3] Fanon explains how African-Americans, especially those of low social capital, adopted certain behaviors to resemble white people as well as other behaviors intended to please whites and reinforce the white man's higher social status. [3]
The black man has two dimensions. One with his fellows, the other with the white man. That this self-division is a direct result of colonialist subjugation is beyond question.
— Frantz Fanon, Black Skins, White Masks, [3]
The term masking was used to describe the act of concealing disgust by Paul Ekman (1972) and Friesen (1969). [4] It was also thought of as a learned behavior. Developmental studies have shown that this ability begins as early as preschool and improves with age. [5] Masking is mostly used to conceal a negative emotion (usually sadness, frustration, and anger) with a positive emotion or indifferent affect. [4]
The social drivers of masking include social discrimination, cultural dominance, and violence. Elizabeth Radulski argues that masking is a cultural performance within Judith Butler's concept of performativity that helps individuals bypass cultural and structural barriers. [1]
The causes of masking are highly contextual and situational. Masking may disguise emotions considered socially inappropriate within a situational context, such as anger, jealousy, or rage. Individuals may mask in certain social situations, such as job interviews or dates, or around people of different cultures, identities, or ethnicities. [4] Since different social situations require different performances, individuals often switch masks and exhibit different masking behaviors in different contexts. Code-switching, although associated more with linguistics, also refers to the process of changing one's masking behavior around different cultures in social and cultural anthropology. [6] Contextual factors including relationships with one's conversation partner, social capital (class) differences, location, and social setting are all reasons why an individual would express, suppress, or mask an emotion. [7]
There is a gendered disparity in masking behavior; studies show women mask negative emotions to a greater extent than men. According to psychologist Teresa Davis, this may be due to the greater social expectation for conformity placed on female gender roles, causing women to develop the skill to a greater extent than men during childhood socialization. [8]
Autistic masking, also referred to as camouflaging, is the conscious or subconscious suppression of autistic behaviors or the compensation of difficulties in social interaction by autistic people with the goal of being perceived as neurotypical. [9] [10] It is a learned coping strategy. [11] [12]
Typical examples of autistic masking include the suppression of stimming and meltdowns, a common reaction to sensory overload. [11] To compensate difficulties in social interaction with neurotypical peers, autistic people might maintain eye contact despite discomfort, use rehearsed conversational scripts, or mirror the body language and tone of others. [9] [10] [11] [13]
Masking requires an exceptional effort. [11] [14] It is linked with adverse mental health outcomes such as stress, [15] autistic burnout, [10] anxiety and other psychological disorders, [15] loss of identity, [15] and suicidality. [10] [15] [16] Some studies find that compensation strategies are seen as contributing to leading a successful and satisfactory life. [9] [17]
Research suggests that there are noticeable differences in social camouflaging between males and females, with the claim that females are more prevalent in masking their personalities in social situations more than men. Due to the autism gender gap, the scenario in which autism within females is not as recognized as it is in males, [18] females often times have a harder time getting a diagnosis of autism at an earlier age, bringing a more pressured conforming to social cues and reciprocity to social situations, leading to higher cases of female autistic individuals masking more often. Not only this, but due to females with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) learning to mask at such early stages of life, many females will remain undiagnosed, or get a late diagnosis of autism. [19]
Environment also plays a role in autistic females learning how to mask themselves more than male autistic individuals. Females with ASD have a higher tendency to learn through a series of mimicking others, this would lead ultimately lead to females with ASD learning how to mask as if it was second nature. [20]
Little is known about the effects of masking one's negative emotions. In the workplace, masking leads to feelings of dissonance, insincerity, job dissatisfaction, emotional and physical exhaustion, and self-reported health problems. [21] Some have also reported experiencing somatic symptoms and harmful physiological and cognitive effects as a consequence. [4]
Masking bring reports of loneliness from autistic individuals, due to the fact that many are having to suppress their true identity to conform to social standards. Masking can make it difficult to form real connections with other people, followed by statements that many feel as if they have lost their true identity as an autistic individual, feeling as if they are only playing a role for the majority of their lives. [22]
Though there are many disadvantages to masking for individuals, many report the benefits masking has brought for them. Such reports stated that individuals felt as if became easier to socialize, to uphold careers, build relationships, and even at times, were able to protect themselves. [23]
Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, was a diagnosis used to describe a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and nonverbal communication, along with restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior and interests. Asperger syndrome has been merged with other conditions into autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and is no longer a diagnosis in the WHO's ICD-11 or the APA's DSM-5-TR. It was considered milder than other diagnoses which were merged into ASD due to relatively unimpaired spoken language and intelligence.
Diagnoses of autism have become more frequent since the 1980s, which has led to various controversies about both the cause of autism and the nature of the diagnoses themselves. Whether autism has mainly a genetic or developmental cause, and the degree of coincidence between autism and intellectual disability, are all matters of current scientific controversy as well as inquiry. There is also more sociopolitical debate as to whether autism should be considered a disability on its own.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that begins in early childhood, persists throughout adulthood, and is characterized by difficulties in social communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behavior. There are many conditions comorbid to autism spectrum disorder, such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety disorders, and epilepsy.
The neurodiversity paradigm is a framework for understanding human brain function that recognizes the diversity within sensory processing, motor abilities, social comfort, cognition, and focus as neurobiological differences. This diversity falls on a spectrum of neurocognitive differences. The neurodiversity paradigm argues that diversity in neurocognition is part of humanity and that some neurodivergences generally classified as disorders, such as autism, are differences and disabilities that are not necessarily pathological. Neurotypical individuals are those who fall within the average range of functioning and thinking.
Ole Ivar Løvaas was a Norwegian-American clinical psychologist and professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is most well known for his research on what is now called applied behavior analysis (ABA) to teach autistic children through prompts, modeling, and positive reinforcement. His application of the science was also noted for its use of aversives (punishment) to reduce undesired behavior, which are no longer supported as a part of most ABA treatment plans.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to autism:
Autism therapies include a wide variety of therapies that help people with autism, or their families. Such methods of therapy seek to aid autistic people in dealing with difficulties and increase their functional independence.
Self-stimulatory behavior, also known as "stimming" and self-stimulation, is the repetition of physical movements, sounds, words, moving objects, or other behaviors. Such behaviors are found to some degree in all people, especially those with developmental disabilities such as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism. People diagnosed with sensory processing disorder are also known to potentially exhibit stimming behaviors.
The empathising–systemising (E–S) theory is a theory on the psychological basis of autism and male–female neurological differences originally put forward by clinical psychologist Simon Baron-Cohen. It classifies individuals based on abilities in empathic thinking (E) and systematic thinking (S). It attempts to explain the social and communication symptoms in autism spectrum disorders as deficits and delays in empathy combined with intact or superior systemising.
Social Stories were devised as a tool to help autistic individuals better understand the nuances of interpersonal communication so that they could "interact in an effective and appropriate manner". Although the prescribed format was meant for high functioning people with basic communication skills, the format was adapted substantially to suit individuals with poor communication skills and low level functioning. The evidence shows that there has been minimal improvement in social interaction skills. However, it is difficult to assess whether the concept would have been successful if it had been carried out as designed.
Societal and cultural aspects of autism or sociology of autism come into play with recognition of autism, approaches to its support services and therapies, and how autism affects the definition of personhood. The autistic community is divided primarily into two camps; the autism rights movement and the pathology paradigm. The pathology paradigm advocates for supporting research into therapies, treatments, and/or a cure to help minimize or remove autistic traits, seeing treatment as vital to help individuals with autism, while the neurodiversity movement believes autism should be seen as a different way of being and advocates against a cure and interventions that focus on normalization, seeing it as trying to exterminate autistic people and their individuality. Both are controversial in autism communities and advocacy which has led to significant infighting between these two camps. While the dominant paradigm is the pathology paradigm and is followed largely by autism research and scientific communities, the neurodiversity movement is highly popular among most autistic people, within autism advocacy, autism rights organizations, and related neurodiversity approaches have been rapidly growing and applied in the autism research field in the last few years.
Classic autism, also known as childhood autism, autistic disorder, (early) infantile autism, infantile psychosis, Kanner's autism, Kanner's syndrome, or (formerly) just autism, is a neurodevelopmental condition first described by Leo Kanner in 1943. It is characterized by atypical and impaired development in social interaction and communication as well as restricted, repetitive behaviors, activities, and interests. These symptoms first appear in early childhood and persist throughout life.
Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by repetitive, restricted, and inflexible patterns of behavior, interests, and activities, as well as deficits in social communication and social interaction, and the presence of high or low sensory sensitivity. The underlying spectrum of ASD results in a variety of manifestations and support needs of the disorder. For example, some are nonverbal, while others have proficient spoken language.
Diagnosis, treatment, and experiences of autism varies globally. Although the diagnosis of autism is rising in post-industrial nations, diagnosis rates are much lower in developing nations.
Sex and gender differences in autism exist regarding prevalence, presentation, and diagnosis.
Nonverbal autism, also called nonspeaking autism, is a subset of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) where the person does not learn how to speak. One study has shown that 64% of autistic children who are nonverbal at age 5 are still nonverbal 10 years later.
Autistic masking, also referred to as camouflaging, is the conscious or subconscious suppression of autistic behaviors and compensation of difficulties in social interaction by autistic people with the goal of being perceived as neurotypical. Masking is a learned coping strategy that can be successful from the perspective of autistic people, but can also lead to adverse mental health outcomes.
Current research indicates that autistic people have higher rates of LGBTQ identities and feelings than the general population. A variety of explanations for this have been proposed, such as prenatal hormonal exposure, which has been linked with sexual orientation, gender dysphoria and autism. Alternatively, autistic people may be less reliant on social norms and thus are more open about their orientation or gender identity. A narrative review published in 2016 stated that while various hypotheses have been proposed for an association between autism and gender dysphoria, they lack strong evidence.
The theory of the double empathy problem is a psychological and sociological theory first coined in 2012 by Damian Milton, an autistic autism researcher. This theory proposes that many of the difficulties autistic individuals face when socializing with non-autistic individuals are due, in part, to a lack of mutual understanding between the two groups, meaning that most autistic people struggle to understand and empathize with non-autistic people, whereas most non-autistic people also struggle to understand and empathize with autistic people. This lack of understanding may stem from bidirectional differences in dispositions, and experiences between autistic and non-autistic individuals, but not necessarily an inherent deficiency. Recent studies have shown that most autistic individuals are able to socialize, communicate effectively, empathize well or build good rapport, and display social reciprocity with most other autistic individuals. This theory and subsequent findings challenge the commonly held belief that the social skills of all autistic individuals are inherently and universally impaired across contexts, as well as the theory of "mind-blindness" proposed by prominent autism researcher Simon Baron-Cohen in the mid-1990s, which suggested that empathy and theory of mind are universally impaired in autistic individuals.
The diagnosis of autism is based on a person's reported and directly observed behavior. There are no known biomarkers for autism spectrum conditions that allow for a conclusive diagnosis.
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: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)Some individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder are capable of functioning adequately by making an exceptional effort to compensate for their symptoms during childhood, adolescence or adulthood. Such sustained effort, which may be more typical of affected females, can have a deleterious impact on mental health and well-being.
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