Human Drives/Instincts – Neurotypical & Autistic

 Over 10 years ago I wrote a blog post for my blog Psychotherapeutic Naturalism, “Trial & Themes -What Makes humans Tick?

(Click here for original post: https://psychotherapeuticnaturalism.blogspot.com/2011/03/trials-and-themes-what-makes-humans.html)

 

In that blog post I wrote:

Evolutionary psychology sees human life, like that of any organism, as consisting of strategic attempts to maximise our success along various key axes, such as mating, care-giving, satisfying appetites etc. Along these axes, humans face a variety of unavoidable Life Challenges…

There is no definitive list of these motivational axes, but I have put together a list for myself for practical use in the therapy context, which probably covers the main areas. The terms Instincts, Drives, Domains are often used in this context - I find it useful to call these species-specific major themes in human life “THEMAs” (Typically Human Evolved Motivational Axes)… They define what is important to us as members of the human species.

 

Given that these days I am reviewing everything I ever thought in the light of what I now know about neurodiversity, and especially autistic neurodivergence, I’m wondering in what ways our thinking about basic human drives will need adjustment to take neurodiversity into account.

In the original post went on to list what I see as perhaps the main Themas/Drives using the mnemonic “PASTMARKS”:

·       Parenting – Focus is on care-giving, nurture, protectiveness.

·       Attachment – Focus is on care-receiving, especially at an early age.

·       Safety – Focus is on self-protection, both physical and psychological.

·       Territory – Focus is on possessions, land, home, money, resources in general.

·       Mating - …One of the central themes of human life (and literature, film etc…)

·       Affiliation – Focus is on forming alliances, friendships, cliques/clubs/gangs.

·       Reciprocity – Focus is on keeping track of fair exchange. Connects with moral emotions such as guilt and outrage.

·       Kinship – Focus is on our roots, who we belong with, “family” both literally and metaphorically.

·       Status – Focus is on reputation, “face”, success, fame (usually at a very local level, obviously).

 

If this list is taken to apply to neurotypical humans (which is certainly all I had in mind in 2011, though I wasn’t aware of it), then what happens when we look at the life experience, life goals, life struggles, life themes of autistic people? What variations on these themes might we see?

A big question, but my initial thoughts would be as follows:

·       Parenting – I’m not familiar with the research in this particular area, but autistic parents may perhaps have a different style of nurturing, on average, than neurotypical parents?

·       Attachment – Similarly, the average attachment needs of an autistic child often seem to be different from those of neurotypical children. Many autistic children are, for instance, more comfortable with alone time from an early age, and less in need of physical affection.

·       Safety – I think that as autistic people we have basically have the same needs as neurotypical people when it comes to physical self-protection. What threatens us at a psychological level, however, may differ somewhat, e.g. invasion of personal space, confusion as to whether a statement is supposed to be funny or hurtful…

·       Territory – Autistic people are often “territorial” about their physical space, but how much of this is innate, and how much it is based a need for control due to feeling threatened by lack of respect for their way of being, is a complex question.

·       Mating – Stereotypical representations of autistic people in the media often seem to assume we have little or no interest in this area, at least not in comparison to other, nerdy, “special interests”. The reality is much more complex and variable, and at least some autistic people can be more than averagely intensely focused and emotional in this area of their lives.

·       Affiliation – I think this often takes a different form for autistic people. Penny Spikins & Barry Wright, in The Prehistory of Autism (Rounded Globe, 2016), suggest that we often prefer a "Small close group of functional relationships in preference to a larger group of social acquaintances".

·       Reciprocity – Autistic people are known to set a high value on fairness, so this theme can be assumed to be a very important drive when it comes to what motivates them in their lives.

·       Kinship – Autistic people can have very high levels of loyalty, but it isn’t always family loyalty. I don’t know if there is research on this particular area…?

·       Status – I think most autists would say that this is of much less concern to them than it is in the dominant neurotypical culture around them.