#746 Simon Baron-Cohen: Autism, Systemizing, Empathy, and Sex Differences

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Dr. Simon Baron-Cohen is Professor of Developmental Psychopathology and director of the Autism Research Centre at the University of Cambridge. He has made major contributions to the fields of typical cognitive sex differences, autism, and synesthesia. Dr. Baron-Cohen was knighted in the 2021 New Year Honours for services to autistic people. His latest book is The Pattern Seekers: A New Theory of Human Invention.

In this episode, we talk about autism and sex differences. We first talk about autism; what characterizes it; why it is classified as a mental disorder, and the idea of neurodiversity; its early signs; and the lower quality of life of autistic people. We discuss the systemizing mechanism, and the distinction between systemizing and empathizing. We talk about the role of testosterone in intra-uterine development, and differences in the brain development of autistic people.  We discuss why the distinction between cognitive and emotional empathy is important. Finally, we talk about sex differences, regions of the brain that might be sexually dimorphic, criticisms of the biological bases of sex differences, and we discuss if it is possible to distinguish between male and female brains.

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