• Feeling isolated? You're not alone.

    Join 20,000+ people who understand exactly how your day went. Whether you're newly diagnosed, self-identified, or supporting someone you love – this is a space where you don't have to explain yourself.

    Join the Conversation → It's free, anonymous, and supportive.

    As a member, you'll get:

    • A community that actually gets it – no judgment, no explanations needed
    • Private forums for sensitive topics (hidden from search engines)
    • Real-time chat with others who share your experiences
    • Your own blog to document your journey

    You've found your people. Create your free account

Are you more likely to do something wrong when others are doing too?

Libecht

Well-Known Member
Say, you wanted to cross the red light, or cut in line. Are you more or less likely to do it when many people are doing too?

According to psychology, people tend to justify their wrongdoings when they're not the only one. But for me, my conscience or inner angel is even stronger in that case, because I want to prove that I'm better than those peasants (Yes Humble is my middle name lol).

What about you guys? Do Aspies have different behaviors?
 
Last edited:
If everyone else is doing something, I'm likely to step back and study their behavior. Ultimately I listen to my intuition and would be less likely to do something if the crowd is doing it.

Of course by breaking from the crowd, that often leaves me alone and vulnerable, but I'm not a gazelle, so that's fine with me.
 
It depends. If it a long wait at the traffic light and there no traffic, I will cross when it a red light.

Majority of the time I would not follow someone bad behavior. Some doing deceitful behavior I normally have no respect for and would normally not follow their behavior. The exception if it involves survival to use a certain service, then sometimes I can approve being deceitful as I had to do this a few times in my life.
 
According to psychology, people tend to justify their wrongdoings when they're not the only one.

"I was only following orders." Not an advisable defense in much of any court of law. ;)

220px-Nuremberg_Trials_retouched.jpg
 
If everyone else is doing something, I'm likely to step back and study their behavior. Ultimately I listen to my intuition and would be less likely to do something if the crowd is doing it.

Of course by breaking from the crowd, that often leaves me alone and vulnerable, but I'm not a gazelle, so that's fine with me.
Well, my presumption is that you wanted to do it in the first place.
It depends. If it a long wait at the traffic light and there no traffic, I will cross when it a red light.

Majority of the time I would not follow someone bad behavior. Some doing deceitful behavior I normally have no respect for and would normally not follow their behavior. The exception if it involves survival to use a certain service, then sometimes I can approve being deceitful as I had to do this a few times in my life.
Are you more or less likely to cross the red light if there are also other people crossing it? My question is about how other people's behavior influences yours.
 
IM unique
i did things my mother did but to me it was to make certain i would exist
never as happy if children were doing it maybe thats part of autism
 
I have trouble doing what others do right or wrong. An early scary experience for me was the entire Junior Church class jumping up out of their chairs, darting into the hall, then galloping up the stairs. They did this all in unison completely spontaneously as far as I could tell. After a few seconds I slowly wandered out into the hall trying to figure out what had happened. One of the teachers had went up the stairs after them and I could hear her scolding them for leaving class before it was time. The scolding wasn't directed at me, I knew that, but I was so scared I just stood in the hall crying and crying. I was 4 years old, maybe. It still bothers me. Anyhoo, I lack a herding mechanism. Happily. I need to remember that when I can't think of a good thing about my brain.
 
Heck, if everyone is jaywalking, then it is expected. Can you tell I'm from New York? :)

But if other people are doing something really wrong, like parking in a handicapped space or being a bully, I am even more likely to NOT DO what they are doing. Guess I'm not humble, either :)
 
Last edited:
No. I still turn my turn signals on and stop at lights and stop signs even if there's literally no one else on the road. When kids cut class, did drugs and offered them to me, I still chose to do what I thought was right. I was pressured to smoke weed and laughed at (by family), called a fun killer and many other not so nice things and still I wouldn't do it. It's not that I look down on other people for what they choose or anything. I just want to do my thing and I don't force anyone to do what I do even though it's not returned in kind.

In ninth grade biology our teacher gave us a paper and said to turn it over when we were finished. IF you read the directions you only had to answer three very simple questions, if not, you were measuring your foot and hopping and all kinds of weird stuff. Only me and one other kid actually read the directions. I thought that maybe I read it wrong so I rechecked it and I was right so I just sat there. It was a lesson on who was going to follow directions in his class. lol
 
Say, you wanted to cross the red light, or cut in line. Are you more or less likely to do it when many people are doing too?

Depends what it is. The two things you've mentioned there, crossing on a red light is something I've always done because I have no patience waiting at a crossing when there are no cars to be seen anywhere and to be honest everyone where I live does it. Cutting in line is something I would never do, but I think that's because the British are very fond of queuing, and we do not tolerate people who break the rules of queuing :p

I do still always indicate when driving even though most people don't, because it's safer and more polite to let people know where you intend to go.
 
As I recall, Aspies tend to be compliant to rules... Because I've been doing some recent reading... I tend to follow most rules, and I know the term "peer pressure", looking back on my childhood I don't remember ever feeling a need to do any of the bad things many teenagers are known to experiment with... Other people I knew would talk more about it, and I never really understood...
 
I would never knowingly do something that's wrong to follow the crowd. I live by my morals; I'd rather fail honestly than cheat. I've never succumbed to peer pressure. As a kid I used to even tell people off for doing the wrong things like cutting in line!
 
Depends on what it is. There's always going to be that certain line that I won't cross, but lesser or petty offenses (say, crossing the road, minor littering or "broken" intersections) are fine with me. I'm not as rigid and "by the book" as I used to be, but there's still standards that I hold myself to, especially when it comes to behavior and moral codes.
 
Last edited:

New Threads

Top Bottom