What Did You Intend?
Check out this article “Intentional action and Asperger Syndrome” in Psychology Today. I spotted it in BoingBoing.
I’m disappointed at the lack of analysis in the article. Would you like to hear MY theory?
Think of side-effects: Results of an action are sometimes inseparable. We seek a desired result, and in the process we get some inseparable side-effect. So far, so good? Sometimes we require that separation and won’t settle for a particular side-effect. But, that is not usually what is on offer, so we have to keep searching. That extra time spent searching is experienced as a cost, too. We will sometimes take the lesser of two evils - supposing we actually do that cost-benefit analysis.
In the article, the two related examples differ in the side-effect: In one example, the goal of getting the biggest smoothie means also getting a commemorative cup you didn’t want. In the other example getting the biggest smoothie means paying an extra dollar. The researchers asked: Do you experience these side-effects as an intentional choice?
In a sense, when you make a choice, you are signing on to all the side-effects - even ones you don’t know about. So I understand the point of view that any side-effect you are aware of immediately becomes a part of your intent.
The article contends, assuming I still remember it accurately, that a person with Asperger’s syndrome does not experience those side-effects as intentional at all, whereas a normal person (control group?) makes distinctions: the unwanted commemorative cup vs. spending the extra dollar.
I think I agree to a lot of side-effects that I regret - and I can’t stand to admit that I agreed to them, so claiming them as my “intent” seems wrong. It manifests as a feeling that I didn’t get enough choices to really get what I intended. I can live with the poor choices I am forced to make to ‘satisfice’, but that doesn’t mean I have to accept them as my intention.
Not the cup or the dollar.
Posted by Evan Bittner Thu, 06 Nov 2008 04:31:00 GMT
