Camouflaging Behaviours Used by Autistic Adults During Everyday Social Interactions
Open accessAbstract
Background Autistic people may modify their innate autistic social behaviours in order to adapt to, cope within, and/or influence the predominately neurotypical social landscape. We term such modified or changed behaviour “camouflaging behaviour.” Conceptualisations and definitions of camouflaging behaviours are in their infancy. Existing qualitative research examining camouflaging behaviours relies solely on retrospective accounts of camouflaging experiences. Methods Using Interpersonal Process Recall methodology (Kegan, 1969), 17 autistic adults (8 women, 6 men, and 3 agender/gender neutral) participated in a brief social task designed to replicate a common day-to-day social situation. Participants then watched a video of their interaction with a researcher, actively identifying and describing camouflaging behaviours. Interview transcripts were analysed using qualitative content analysis. Results Detailed descriptions of 37 camouflaging behaviours were generated. These behaviours were grouped into four categories: masking (hide particular behaviours and/or aspects of one’s identity); innocuous engagement (facilitate passive, conservative, and superficial engagement in social interactions); neurotypical communication (involve communicating in line with non-autistic norms and preferences); and active self-presentation (facilitate active, open, and reciprocal participation in social interactions). Limitations Given the IPR methodology utilised in the study, the results may not generalise to all social environments or autistic individuals. Conclusions This study extends the current understanding of camouflaging by generating novel, specific, and detailed information about camouflaging behaviours. These camouflaging behaviours are discussed with reference to literature concerning interpersonal research and theory within and outside the field of autism.
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Participants described engaging in four main subtypes of camouflaging behaviours: masking, innocuous engagement, modelling neurotypical communication and active self-presentation.
“participants described engaging in four main subtypes of camouflaging behaviours: masking, innocuous engagement, modelling neurotypical communication and active self-presentation.”
From Camouflaging in an everyday social context: An interpersonal recall study (2021) · cites this paper as Cook et al., 2020
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- Authors
- Cook, J., Crane, L., Hull, L., Bourne, L., & Mandy, W.
- Affiliations
- University College London (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Cook, Julia
- Published
- 2020-10-23
- OpenAlex
- W3157182468
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 99
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2022: 1 · 2021: 3
- Type
- posted content
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Funders
- University College London
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Autism Spectrum Disorder Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Social Sciences › Education › Social Skills and Education
- Keywords
- autism spectrum disorder, autistic adults, masking, social interaction, self-presentation, interpersonal process recall, social adaptation, neurodiversity
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