This process is disrupted with autism, since autistic people have difficulty “reading” others and are themselves often hard to read

Impression management seems like a kind of dance, making an earlier cited quote read, “Dancing is something that every person is always engaged in” or somesuch. But what “dancing” is is culturally defined - for example, Carlos Castaneda’s books speak of a particular form of “dancing” whose purpose it is to confound those at whom it is directed.

Ritual? Game? (BS?) How is this process to be viewed? A favorite computer game of mine is “Gearheads”, a two-player game in which wind-up mechanical toys of various types, each with their own actions and each affecting other types depending on the pairing, are released facing each other onto a playing surface. The first player to get 21 toys to the opposite end of the playing field wins.

The action becomes frantic, and players risk collapsing into helpless laughter. But what a model of social interaction! Great fun. But as to having to do this in real life... augh. Thus autistic folks’ frustration with being in a giant game we did not voluntarily join and are prevented by others’ strenuous efforts from trying to “sit out”.

Last revised: June 22, 2007
(c)2007 Dave Spicer
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