Motivational Perspectives in Thinking About Someone who is Autistic
In discussions about what it is to be autistic we tend focus on the areas of emotion, cognition, physiology and behaviour. Perhaps there is a bit too much focus on the last, and not quite enough on the first, but they are all getting attention these days, and they are all interesting and worthy of such attention. However, if we want to fully understand any individual, or any community of similar people, one of the key things we need to be focusing on is motivation. Of course motivation is related to, not separate from, the other four areas mentioned above (how we think and feel influences what we want, which in turn influence our behaviour), but it still needs to be thought about separately. After all, emotion, cognition, physiology and behaviour are themselves intimately interconnected (our thoughts influence our emotions and vice-versa, our emotions influence our physiology, and so on…), but we still deal with each of them as important areas of focus in their own right. I somet