The topic of motivation concerns what influences people to act, think and develop (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Research on motivation focuses on the circumstances that support aspects such as persistence, performance, healthy development, and vitality in our human endeavours. In other words, the purposes and motivations that are behind the social conditions and processes that influence what people do and how they feel when doing it (Deci & Ryan, 2008). Deci and Ryan (2008) found that self-directed motivation is more in evidence once people experience satisfaction when each of their basic psychological needs for competence, relatedness and autonomy are met.
That said, people who are neurotypical are wired to be social; to form connections with others easily; and usually, do not want to sever existing social ties with family and friends. While in the company of others, social interactions commonly generate feelings of warmth, comfort and social connectedness, which have clear implications for health and psychological well-being. They have a basic psychological need to experience much social activity. Those who lack social ties or feel lonely or isolated usually develop poor psychological well-being, experience poor physical health, and are at greater risk of an early death (Canevello & Crocker, 2017). Being social is obviously good for the heath and well-being of neurotypical individuals who are generally highly motivated to be social.
In contrast, characterised by core deficits in social communication skills, individuals with autism show markedly less motivation to be social. A study conducted by Calder, Hill, and Pellicano (2012) found that while children with autism formed friendships and were part of classroom social networks, they have a different understanding of what constitutes a ‘friendship.’ Their idea of friendship appeared to be based more on sharing company beside others, rather than sharing emotions. They showed less motivation for social contact and to be involved in social interaction.
A study conducted by Assaf et al. (2013) on adults with autism found that, during a game, there was diminished neural activity when playing against a human opponent but these deficits were not observed when playing against a computer opponent. Their study confirmed that those with autism have less motivation to be social than do neurotypical individuals.
Similarly, another study conducted by Bottini (2018) on adults with ASD also found neural abnormalities in the social reward processing regions of the brain which means that those with autism experience a reduced attention to social motivations, because the reward value was found to be less than the general population. In other words, social interaction was found to not be as rewarding to those with autism, as it is for neurotypical people.
Further, a study by Carre et al (2015) found that adults with ASD were deemed socially anhedonic, which means a reduced motivation or reduced ability to experience pleasure. This was found in combination with high levels of negative affectivity (emotionality) and that depression, mood disorders, and anxiety were found to be considered as secondary disorders in ASD. Therefore, an inability to experience social pleasure because the reward experienced within social situations is minor or diminished, combined with high levels of negative affectivity would, of course lead to high levels of depression, mood disorders, and anxiety.
Consequently, while research has confirmed that social motivations are processed as rewarding in the brains of neurotypical people and that social motivations can improve task performance for them, task performance is not improved by social motivation in those with autism. Therefore those with autism do not actively attend to the social environment like neurotypical people do, because they do not find social interaction intrinsically rewarding, as do neurotypical people. It goes without saying, therefore, that within a neurodiverse relationship, in order to function well or meet the needs of each individual within the relationship there needs to meaningful, appropriate assistance to be able to overcome the very different conducts, behaviours, and practices of each.
Dr. Bronwyn Wilson
References
Assaf, M., Hyatt, C. J., Wong, C. G., Johnson, M. R., Schultz, R. T., Hendler, T., & Pearlson, G. D. (2013). Mentalizing and motivation neural function during social interactions in autism spectrum disorders. NeuroImage. Clinical, 3, 321-331. doi:10.1016/j.nicl.2013.09.005
Bottini, S. (2018). Social reward processing in individuals with autism spectrum disorder: A systematic review of the social motivation hypothesis. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 45(29), 9-26.
Calder, L., Hill, V., & Pellicano, E. (2012). ‘Sometimes I want to play by myself’: Understanding what friendship means to children with autism in mainstream primary schools. Autism. doi:10.1177/1362361312467866
Canevello, A., & Crocker, J. (2017). Compassionate goals and affect in social situations. Motivation and Emotion, 41(2), 158-179.
Carré, A., Chevallier, C., Robel, L., Barry, C., Maria, A.-S., Pouga, L., . . . Berthoz, S. (2015). Tracking social motivation systems deficits: The affective neuroscience view of autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 1-13.
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Facilitating optimal motivation and psychological well-being across life’s domains. Canadian Psychology, 49(1), 14-34.