Does a lack of social mimicry produce out-of-the-box solutions?

[Nervous Rex]

So, one thing that many autistics lack is the social mimicry and conformity that NT's do without thinking. They do something because that's the way that everyone else does it. I totally get that it's a hard-wired time-saver for the brain: Someone else has already worked out a solution and I probably won't find a better solution on my own. Trust the crowd. Follow the crowd.

Yet most autistics don't have this ingrained behavior. Instead, they come up with their own solutions to things. I can't tell you how many times I've done something and had someone watching me ask, "What possessed you to do it that way?" I shrug and say, "It seemed like it would work" or offer some other explanation of my thought process. Usually the followup question is, "Why didn't you do it like everyone else does?" The truth is that is that it never occurred to me because I never paid attention to how everyone else did it. I am sure that there have been many times when I came up with the same solution as "the crowd" and therefore haven't been noticed, but I definitely come up with my own odd solutions from time to time and produce lots of raised eyebrows.

An autistic stereotype is "out of the box" thinking - choosing a solution or behavior that no one else thought of (whether better or worse than the previously known solution or behavior). My question is:

Do you think that the lack of social mimicry, and therefore the need to figure a lot of things out on our own, leads to these out-of-the-box solutions?

 

[Gritches]

Yes, it most certainly does. You've described exactly why. NTs have trouble thinking outside that box, we have trouble thinking inside the box.

 

[Nervous Rex]

NTs have trouble thinking outside that box, we have trouble thinking inside the box.

That is so succinct and poetic. When I steal this (and I will!), I may change it to "we don't see the box."

 

[Voltaic]

Yes, it most certainly does. You've described exactly why. NTs have trouble thinking outside that box, we have trouble thinking inside the box.

That is so succinct and poetic. When I steal this (and I will!), I may change it to "we don't see the box."

i am going to steal both your quotes. that was poetic.

i normally go about doing things in what i think is the most efficient way of getting my task done. sometimes it is faster than others ways of doing things, sometimes it isnt, then i do things thier way.

often times. universally accepted ways of doing things are just plain wrong. though, befaus they are universal, everyone thinks you are wrong for only going against the grain, and not looking at the outcomes.

unfortionately this world is not like a math calss, they look at the answer, and only deffine the journey to the answer by the time it takes.

 

[Progster]

Yes, I think that it does, because we aren't so easily influenced by others and their social needs. We tend to be very independent thinkers, with critical judgement. We are more likely to analyse and come up with the most efficient method of doing something without social constraints. We are also more likely to base our solutions to problems on logic than emotion.https://www.autismforums.com/find-new/posts

 

[Fridgemagnetman]

Where did I put the box?