Deductive vs. Intuitive Reasoning

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So my therapist told me yesterday that I examine situations (social cues, etc) using deductive reasoning which is "unusual" while most people do it intuitively. He has not told me I have Aspergers/HFA (he prefers no labels so I've been given no diagnosis at all), although I think I do (though sometimes I'm not sure). He also said I'm very perceptive though, which I agree with. But he said I don't examine situations with much emotion, I examine fact-based though I am very emotional (it just doesn't register while things are happening b/c I'm examining using reasoning).

Just curious what others experiences are.

Aspies learn intellectually what other people know instinctively .

Its something some people dont seem to realise about us. They see you doing the same as them and assume you're like them. They never understand how much mental effort has to be put in to do what everyone else takes for granted. They don't realise that you have to use systems to simulate what comes naturally to them.

Sounds like a good therapist to have noticed that.

Your description of your therapist makes him seem "deductive," too. He likes to determine your characteristics without the influence of a diagnosis. This seems quite smart, in my opinion. Getting any diagnosis too soon results in both the patient and the diagnostician jumping to some conclusions without evidence and start seeing characteristics where none really exist.

I would say stick with him. When he does determine your diagnosis, it will be with valid reasons.

Yep...the classic Aspie pattern: compensating for a relative lack of intuitive reasoning by using one's deductive strengths.

People with autism lack the intuitive autopilot and mimicking behaviour. Personally because of this I constantly find me to be overly self-aware of my own body and constantly try to rationalize how I should behave or act rather than just going with the flow.

There was a study ( can't remember name ) that looked at this. They shown that while most people unconsciously mimic behaviour, people in the autistic spectrum were much less prevalent to this behaviour. An example of this they would show a short video and at some point a person started scratching his neck, a high rate of NT mimic it but only very few autistic people did. It may give a clue why picking up social cues and engaging in fluid social interaction is so hard when you do everything consciously and aware.

To me, intuition is the opposite of reasoning. One "just knows" without having to reason it out. Thinking deductively is using reason to figure the same thing out.

Perhaps NTs add some deductive reasoning to their basic intuition. I don't know. I do know that I deductively analyze everything as much as I can. I think that sometimes helps me learn things I might have missed if I was just going on intuition alone.

I came to that conclusion myself, and my psychologist at the time seemed to agree with the idea.