…and this is a 
I'm mostly normal!
Category: Personal
Posted on: August 1, 2007 6:56 PM, by PZ Myers
People might read this definition of Asperger's Syndrome and think, "Gee, that Miyyears fellow meets two of the three criteria, maybe that's his problem".
Asperger's, like too many other mental illnesses, is in effect an almost whimsical diagnosis of exclusion: If someone is really smart, arrogant beyond measure, and tends to be an asshole or otherwise impossible to converse with in a normal way, then he must have a form of autism.
I'll have you know, though, that I took the test and scored a 24, an "average math contest winner." You need a 32 to suggest Asperger's, and a 15 is the average. So there. I don't have Asperger's, I'm just cruel and insensitive.
Comments
It's a goof. Assburger's Syndrome, indeed.
Posted by: Milo Johnson | August 1, 2007 7:02 PM
I just took the test and got a 32! Now I'm going to be worrying about that for at least, er, thirty seconds or so. I notice it said the "average male scientist" would get a 19, so at least I'm in some sense above average :)
Posted by: Stephen Wells | August 1, 2007 7:07 PM
It's not a goof. My son has AS, and happy me scored a 34. My wife scored a 4. Opposites attract.
Posted by: True Bob | August 1, 2007 7:12 PM
14 - a male or female biologist, whatever that means?!!
Posted by: tacitus | August 1, 2007 7:13 PM
Ha! I beat you PZ! Where do I go to get my honorary Hideous Arse Candle award?
Posted by: Chelsea | August 1, 2007 7:15 PM
As the father of a 12 yr old boy with Asperger's I cringe when I here the syndrome characterized as a mental illness. It is more accurately described as a neurobiological disorder. That may sound like a quibble to some but I also had a father who was mentally ill. I can assure anyone who might care to know that the two conditions are not comparable. As for me? Well I read this blog.
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | August 1, 2007 7:15 PM
As a male physics student, I was quite amused to get "15: Average woman, average male, or female biologist".
Posted by: andy | August 1, 2007 7:20 PM
Hmm 24...more geeky than the average computer scientist.
Sigh. no wonder my wife looks at me like that sometimes.
Posted by: Dave | August 1, 2007 7:21 PM
Me? A 36?
Admittedly I love numbers (being a gEEk), especially phone #s and license plates, and chit-chat is often a struggle along with keeping a conversation going, but I thought that was just exhaustion from being a single Dad of a 13 year old brainiac.
Posted by: Bob T | August 1, 2007 7:21 PM
Those questionnaires cause such trouble. Anyway, I think perhaps 'normal' is over-rated.
Cheers
Posted by: mcewen | August 1, 2007 7:23 PM
31 - should I switch from biology to math contests?
Posted by: Greco | August 1, 2007 7:24 PM
Holy crap! I got a 35! I'm an assburger myself!
Posted by: Milo Johnson | August 1, 2007 7:24 PM
PZ, I'm beginning to think you're partly British, with your self-deprecating sense of humor and all. I watched your interview on BloggingHeads TV. Just admit it. You're one of the intelligent nice guys who just wishes he was a rogue.
It's not like you're in the street running old ladies off the road on their way to church. It's tempting sometimes, but if granny had a flat tire, you're the type of guy that would stop to help, even if she tried to convert you in the process. You're like an atheist Han Solo.
Posted by: MarcusA | August 1, 2007 7:28 PM
[Homer]
Mmmmmm, Assburger...
[/Homer]
Posted by: True Bob | August 1, 2007 7:28 PM
Oh, man, I got a 41. That's like, way above average math contest winner. And like, way above 32, which is apparently an "extreme score." I suck.
Posted by: nicole | August 1, 2007 7:34 PM
Joking aside, AS is pretty tough for those with it. They have all sorts of difficulty understanding context and idioms.
My son has so many hidden rules, it's amazing he is as successful as he is - that's the really smart part. So far, the only real accommodations are education for his teachers, and the enormous work he has put in. It's really difficult for AS kids to deal with all those durned neurotypicals. They just can't get cliques, they don't get the interpersonal dynamics, they sound rude and stand-offish.
On the big plus side, at 14, he knows more about his inner workings than I ever thought anyone could.
Posted by: True Bob | August 1, 2007 7:34 PM
As a person who really does have aspergers, I can say that the a real aspie condition and diagnosis is no joke.
The thing about aspie symptoms is that pretty much every person exhibits these traits to some degree. Real aspies, however, do these things to the extreme; to an obsessive amount; to the point where it causes real problems in their daily functioning and daily interactions with others.
For example, take OCD (some aspies get misdiagnosed with OCD): a normal person may like the number "4", and may count to it from time to time, but an OCD person will do it thousands of times a day and create instantiations of the "4" number/pattern with many objects and tasks in their daily schedule.
A normal person might like to be really clean, but an OCD person will go through 5 bars of soap every time they take a piss.
Now lets look at aspies. A normal person might talk a lot, or perhaps talk too loud at times. But an aspie will would talk A LOTTTTTT and talk in very formalized and verbose sytles. The aspie would use a shouting volume even in a small enclosed quiet place. An aspie will rattle on for over an hour about their favorite hobby or interest, looooooonggg after the normal people have tuned him out.
Normal people might be really keen on baseball, or airplanes. But the aspie will recite from memory the batting average of some obscure player during his rookie year 50 years ago. The aspie will recite from memory the model #s of the pratt and whitney engines popularly installed on a given airframe, and even know the thrust ratings or the # of stator blades (and will get really annoyed if you confuse stator blades with fan blades!)
The symptoms go on and on, and very in both their particulars and intensity. Some aspies may talk too loud, some might talk too quiet. There is a saying among those familiar with autism spectrum disorders, and it goes like this: "If youve met one autie, then youve met one autie!"
When I was a kid, I was misdiagnosed with ADHD, which was a common misdiagnosis at the time (that was in the 1980s), because Asperger Syndrome wasnt even in the DSM until 1994! We know very little about the condition, and lots of people are just now discovering that they have it, often only AFTER their kid is found to have it. Then it hits them in a flash: "No wonder I felt so different than everybody else!"
As a child I had a general awareness that I was quite different, and that I was always finding myself in situations that my peers typically werent being found in. I was constantly being reprimanded for bad and disruptive behavior, while simultaneously being the golden child in the GATE program. I was aceing proficiency tests but failing to do my regular assignments. I had excessive amounts of energy, far more so than even the hyper little rugrats running amok on the schoolgrounds. I was oscracized from the social cliques but strangely respected by the same kids that ostracized me. I totally didnt fit in, not with any of the varying degrees of cliques.
I went to get analyzed at all kinds of places by all kinds of speicalists to figure out why I was different and what could be done about it. Obviously, I was different. The educators, administrators, and family members all could see it. Even my little child brain was vaguely aware of the fact that I didnt fit in, and also that I was simultanously far ahead of, and behind, the development of my peers.
Anyway, my point is that lots of people do the things that Aspies do, but its not WHAT aspies do so much as the level or degree to which they do it (or dont do it) that makes them an aspie.
Posted by: Aaron Kinney | August 1, 2007 7:35 PM
29 - which means I can understand the math pretty well, and still deliver a good presentation. Yesh?
Posted by: Jesse | August 1, 2007 7:36 PM
@ MarcusA:
I think Han might be an atheist anyway. He does say 'hokey religion' a few times . . .
Posted by: James | August 1, 2007 7:36 PM
Judging by the tone of that post you linked to, I would not be the slightest bit surprised if it turned out to have been plagiarized from SomethingAwful.com. More seriously, the poster's statements about the origin of the syndrome's name and its discoverer are materially false, as I pointed out in this comment.
For insurance reasons I haven't been to see a psychiatrist for anything other than rubber-stamping a medicine refill in quite a few years, and the psychiatrists I saw as a child summarily refused to even consider the possibility. However, the articles I've read on Asperger's strongly match many of the specific symptoms (not just the general tone of "smart and socially awkward"), a point on which I'll be happy to expand if needed, and my (diagnosed autistic) daughter's psychiatrist, in exploring her family history, strongly agreed that my symptoms match. Consequently, I'm not amused by the sneering and cavalier tone in which the condition is usually discussed. :/
Posted by: Azkyroth | August 1, 2007 7:37 PM
...needing the joke explained to me being a good example, I suppose.
Posted by: Azkyroth | August 1, 2007 7:40 PM
I got a 25. I beat PZ!
Of course, it's not about winning and losing.
I should go write that down 100 times.
Posted by: Zeno | August 1, 2007 7:58 PM
An introverted number admirer like myself gets a score of 32 (I guess I should drop those biology and history for secondary education majors). I CAN do the social thing, I just rather curl up with a good book on population genetics. There are places where desire is not separated out from ability. Sloppy questions.
Posted by: Ragnor144 | August 1, 2007 8:00 PM
30. So close!
Posted by: CalGeorge | August 1, 2007 8:03 PM
:P
Posted by: ERV | August 1, 2007 8:05 PM
Funny, I got a 13, slightly below average. I don't plan on switching out of physics for this.
Posted by: miller | August 1, 2007 8:05 PM
I scored a 35.
Is it better or worse that I don't care about what the test says? I don think that everyone enjoys participating in the same kinds of activities. If everyone was the same I think that would just make for a more boring world.
You could make up a disease for people who don't want to go skydiving. I should hardly think that everyone in the world not being into skydiving would be surprising. Diagnosing, much less treating, such people with a "mental illness" seems a bit farcical to me.
Posted by: Todd Sayre | August 1, 2007 8:05 PM
17- Average female scientist. Imagine my girlfriend's surprise.
Posted by: Rich | August 1, 2007 8:08 PM
Todd, it really isn't made up, and it isn't funny ha ha. Read upthread, Aaron @ #17 explains quite well. It's a struggle to maneuver the world of 'normal' folks. I expect that my son will continue to be in a flight-or-fight mode during all his classes, as he always has been. It's so stressful it's hard to fathom.
Posted by: True Bob | August 1, 2007 8:11 PM
Little old English Major me got a 24. I guess I just didn't feel creative enough being a math whiz...
Posted by: Stogoe | August 1, 2007 8:13 PM
Sweet, I'm safe. I only scored 31!
Posted by: Timothy | August 1, 2007 8:16 PM
18 - Average man. Pretty good for someone who often scores as a "perfect introvert" on the Myers-Briggs personality test.
Posted by: Moses | August 1, 2007 8:20 PM
It is most accurately described as a collection of behaviors, propensities, and attitudes. 'Neurobiological disorder' pushes far beyond the boundaries of the existing evidence indicates.
Posted by: Caledonian | August 1, 2007 8:21 PM
Now, imagine that there are a number of people who very much want to go skydiving, but for whatever reason their brains are configured in such a way that they usually cannot find the cord to open their chutes, (I'm guessing they're probably automatic, but let's go with the analogy). This is a bit closer to asperger's, but still a poor analogy. :/
Posted by: Azkyroth | August 1, 2007 8:22 PM
"It is most accurately described as a collection of behaviors, propensities, and attitudes. 'Neurobiological disorder' pushes far beyond the boundaries of the existing evidence indicates."
Gee, couldn't you also say that about Major Depression? Just buck up?
/eyeroll
Posted by: True Bob | August 1, 2007 8:24 PM
Caledonian, would you mind clarifying whether you're actually saying that Asperger's probably lacks a physical or genetic basis, and either way, backing up that claim?
Posted by: Azkyroth | August 1, 2007 8:27 PM
What's the difference between
15 Average woman, and average male or female biologist
and
17 Average female scientist?
Aren't biologists scientists? Oh, and I got a 16. Not bad for a biology chick with a math fetish. I see the patterns everywhere but I'm not socially inept, maybe that's it?
Posted by: mena | August 1, 2007 8:29 PM
Me too, Moses--won't Mr. Raven be surprised!
Actually, probably not so much, since he's always saying I have the sense of humor of a 13-year-old boy. So I guess that actually makes me *more* mature--woo-hoo!
Posted by: RavenT | August 1, 2007 8:31 PM
28. My utter inability to memorize phone numbers saves me from getting tossed in the loony bin!
Posted by: ngong | August 1, 2007 8:31 PM
Hey PZ, hope you're not caught up in that Bridge collapse on I-35! Man, that's insane.
Posted by: Jeff | August 1, 2007 8:37 PM
Hmmm...a 14 and male. I guess I have to become gay. That's what I get for voting Democratic all these years....
Posted by: cory | August 1, 2007 8:39 PM
My 32 year old son has Asperger's. He was just diagnosed last year when he was in the army. That's right, the Army took a man with Asperger's not once but twice. Way to win a war, George. We noticed changes in his behavior when he was two. He is now looking for some counseling. Some of his rules were actually beneficial to us. Imagine any other two year old putting himself to bed every night. He would get up and go to his bedroom, put on his pajamas and then come out to say goodnight earlier than we had set for his bedtime. Some were not so good. He would get upset in the car if we went somewhere by a different route. We started doing that on purpose just to get him used to changes. He once waited at his school bus stop for three hours when he was four. He was told to get on the #24 bus. That day the bus came, with the same number and driver but a different type of bus. It wasn't until the school called to see why he wasn't there that we found him. He wasn't upset or confused. He was just waiting for the right bus to come along. He also has a great memory. We went to see the first Star Wars movie at a drive in. He stood with his back to the screen, seemingly uninterested, but the next day he started reciting huge blocks of dialog from the movie. He still has a fondness for Star Wars.
Posted by: wrpd | August 1, 2007 8:41 PM
My fave question: "Other people frequently tell me that what I've said is impolite, even though I think it is polite."
Only when I'm talking about religion!
But then, "I don't agree with you," "I think you're mistaken," or "I don't think you've proved your point" are considered impolite statements when talking about religion.
And for the record, I got a 13. Much lower than I'd expected.
Posted by: Greta Christina | August 1, 2007 8:44 PM
23: But I had to get some help from my wife for some of the questions and I think she deliberately picked the answers which she thought would make me look weird. OK, so maybe I pointed out in her 55th birthday card that 5 cubed + 5 cubed = 250, and that 2 cubed + 5 cubed + zero cubed = 133, and that 1 cubed + 3 cubed + 3 cubed = 55. But that's interesting, not weird.
It is not easy being married to a goddess.
Posted by: hephaistos | August 1, 2007 8:46 PM
38, by the way.
Posted by: Caledonian | August 1, 2007 8:48 PM
My score on the test was 7.
Posted by: wrpd | August 1, 2007 8:49 PM
My 7 year old was just diagnosed with Asperger's a month or so ago. (I got a 20 on that online test, spouse got a 24.) There is quite a lot of variability to the symptoms themselves and the severity of them; for instance, a lot of the online questions look like they score for social avoidance, but that isn't the only way to manifest the problem. My child is overly gregarious, entirely the opposite, but it's the same root of not understanding social cues and mores. For example, he's very apt to try to kiss someone he's known for 20 minutes and then not "get" why they're not entirely thrilled with that.
And Cal, how much research have you done on Asperger's? Because there are a whole suite of neurobiological issues usually associated with Asperger's along with the basic diagnosis. Sensory integration dysfunction, Tourettes, ADD, etc., etc. I have occasionally agreed with you on things (much to my surprise), but here you seem to be once again pontificating on something you know nothing about.
Posted by: Carlie | August 1, 2007 8:52 PM
So? The issue wasn't whether there were frequently-associated neurological problems, but whether Asperger's can be described as a neurobiological problem.
I find that disturbing. I suppose, though, that even blind squirrels occasionally find a walnut.
Posted by: Caledonian | August 1, 2007 8:56 PM
Cal,
Try reading a few of these:
http://libraries.uta.edu/helen/Asperger.pdf
I think you may find a few references to Neurobiology and Disorders in there somewhere. But hey, I'm no expert, just the dad of a kid whose neurologist used those terms, so what do I know.
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | August 1, 2007 9:09 PM
38. It's just the complete and utter lack of any sort of social ability and the uncanny ability to remember phone numbers and birthdays.
Posted by: Katie | August 1, 2007 9:10 PM
Christ on a stick. Here, the DSM-IV diagnosis, along with a few other previous sets of criteria. Note where the segment from the DSM-IV says "Various nonspecific neurological symptoms or signs may be noted." Also "Motor delays or motor clumsiness may be noted in the preschool period.", which is more indicative of a neurobiological problem than a behavioral problem. Unless, that is, you think that losing the ability to use scissors well is a behavioral trait? I'm sure that my child's occupational and physical therapists will be happy to know that they can pawn off his treatment onto the school counselor instead. More detailed explanation of how the diagnosis is made here.
Posted by: Carlie | August 1, 2007 9:12 PM
Well I am a physicist with 'biology envy'. Perhaps that is why I scored a 27.... ho-hum.
-DU-
Posted by: David Utidjian | August 1, 2007 9:15 PM
Lurker here.
I took a test like this a few weeks ago and scored 24. Today I got 34. Interesting.
I did a bit of (admittedly not very thorough) research and don't think I actually have Asperger's. I'm just an extremely shy, introverted, weirdo geek with social anxiety disorder (among other mood-related issues).
Posted by: FellBeast | August 1, 2007 9:16 PM
Yes?
Posted by: Caledonian | August 1, 2007 9:19 PM
Caledonian, would you mind explaining exactly what working definition of a "neurobiological disorder" you are using here and how, exactly, the items that have been offered as evidence that Asperger's belongs in this category do not qualify?
Posted by: Azkyroth | August 1, 2007 9:20 PM
I score 8... so I'm practically anti-asbergers
but I *need* to focus on detail (I'm a consultant and details cost money, dammit)
I also *need* to socialize, but *love* to get private time
Maybe this is all learned, because I was a really good Computer Scientist (my prof's were pissed at me when I dropped out...)
And I love trivia! (my family refused to let me play trivial pursuit - except on their team!)
Posted by: tony | August 1, 2007 9:21 PM
It is most accurately described as a collection of behaviors, propensities, and attitudes.
This initial assertion is incorrect. Look at how it's actually diagnosed.
Posted by: Carlie | August 1, 2007 9:24 PM
Score: 32-50 (?) Not sure what that meant but, I am not surprised I scored high since I do have a diagnosis of Asperger's Indeed, I have to take psych meds to deal with the depression, anxiety and panic response issues that are part and parcel to AS.
As for the comments from #17, I concur completely. He pretty much told my story as well. I went and got tested and was diagnosed after it my son was diagnosed with AS. It is not fun. It is a bitch to live with and continues to this day to cause me tremendous problems and frustrations with employment, relationships and the like.
I also agree, Autism (in all its forms) is definitely better thought of as a neurological disorder - a mis-wiring of the brain if you will - than it is as a mental illness.
Posted by: Jeff Knapp | August 1, 2007 9:31 PM
Shit, I have it.
Posted by: John Danley | August 1, 2007 9:32 PM
I scored a 29. I probably would have been right up there in the Asperger's group, except that I'm hopeless with numbers in remembering or interest.
I actually saw a psychologist for a consultation because I was "accused" of having Asperger's. She said that I didn't, but that some of my introverted tendencies were exaggerated as a response to stress. I did some counselling to deal with this stuff, which worked very well, and even my "accuser" has changed her mind.
Posted by: T. Bruce McNeely | August 1, 2007 9:38 PM
Carlie, thanks for the link. I had forgotten the no-eye-contact bit. My son has come so far. We get such a thrill that he will make eye contact with a waiter/waitress and state his order politely. It's only been years...
Posted by: True Bob | August 1, 2007 9:43 PM
I'd probably be more social and chit-chatty if the things that most people yap about were interesting. But, you know, sports, church, weather, sitcoms, so blech.
Posted by: Stogoe | August 1, 2007 9:47 PM
While I tend to score high on these tests, and that could very well be because I might have Asperger's, I attribute it more to my number form synesthesia.
Posted by: Tom @Thoughtsic.com | August 1, 2007 9:47 PM
10. Male physics professor. It was all those questions about organization and remembering numbers that led to this pitiful score. Perhaps what causes my nerdy and opinionated personality will get a name someday. However, I will never know as I *very strongly* thought that the questionnaire was boring.
Posted by: nerd instinct | August 1, 2007 9:49 PM
Hmm. 24. Average math contest winner.
Back in high school, I actually was a math contest winner. Now I'm a poet. Doesn't have to make sense.
Posted by: Tom Adam | August 1, 2007 9:53 PM
41. Not really a surprise: I was diagnosed as autistic+ADHD back in the late 60's/early 70's (more than 20 years before Asperger's became an officially recognized diagnosis).
Posted by: Benjamin Franz | August 1, 2007 10:00 PM
39. Thirty-nine? Having done research into the topic (regarding my son ... probably ADHD + other comorbidities, but marginally possible Aspie and at minimum some of his special-ed classmates definitely are so I need to know how to interact with them) I don't think I went out of my way to inflate my score. Perhaps I got distracted and answered questions backwards -- something I habitually read past words like "don't". So I started fresh and for borderline answers I deliberately chose the answer that I though would lower my score... And I got a 37. Hmmm. Geek, check. Physicist, check. Aspie? That might explain a bit of my history. But I still think it's too high. I don't like number details (phone #'s, patterns, etc ... dsylexia gets in the way here) and I don't really like collecting stuff (except messy junk accumulates) as a hobby.
Posted by: a lurker | August 1, 2007 10:00 PM
Yi - I scored 24, math geek territory. But I'm an English major who passed calculus with a D, probably due to the charity of an instructor who didn't want to see me in class for a third time.
Posted by: Rugosa | August 1, 2007 10:00 PM
45. Should I call 911?
Posted by: Woof | August 1, 2007 10:02 PM
No, because you'll become too engrossed in hitting the number '7' over and over again to do so.
Posted by: Caledonian | August 1, 2007 10:03 PM
Yes, but are biologists "average scientists"? Chihuahuas are dogs, yet their average height is probably below average dog height. Statistical distributions in a subpopulation are not necessarily representative of the larger population, which is precisely why scientists make efforts to choose representative samples.
And Azkyroth, I think the joke you link is a bit unclear, too. 41 here, but I'm still right about the joke. The questions seemed to be getting a bit repetitious. As pointed out, they were rather general and abstract, and the available responses aren't finely detailed. I'm not sure it really captures my variations from "I can handle this" through "This is somewhat disturbing" to "What? Greeting a stranger? Time to run for it!"
Considering this, anyone who's disappointed at being higher or lower or otherwise feels that the test is trying to apply an inappropriate label can take comfort in the thought that I doubt it's a bang-on diagnostic tool. If you can do what you want to do, great! If you're a particularly social person complaining that it's pegging you as a nonscientist or another specialty, so what? This isn't a test for technical competence and, if you're actually comfortable conversing with others at your department, I'll be too busy envying that capability than worrying about what some test says.
What's with the liking numbers, anyway? I'm a mathematician (or, perhaps more accurately, I'm not a mathematician but I play one at school), but I don't like numbers. Now, sure, when you see numbers around you might do a little mental arithmetic or factoring out of habit. You do need to respect primes, powers (especially of 2), squares, and such. But actually to like numbers? And I hear some folks go on about pi, even naming a movie after it. I don't think it's much fun at all. Now, sure, it's important in trigonometry and it's a big part in one of the wackiest formulae ever, but it's still not much fun as a number.
Nonetheless, I don't particularly mind, unless someone starts presenting numerology to me to make me flip my lid. It's to a mathematician as creationism is to a biologist. There's liking numbers and then there's treating them in cruel and obscene ways.
Posted by: wrg | August 1, 2007 10:07 PM
45. I definitely have it. My junior high teacher friend tells me I'm practically the syndrome incarnate.
I discovered that the social anxiety is a bit more manageable (not very much, but a bit) if I just stop caring about such meaningless things as the emotional responses of others and focus on the facts. It doesn't matter to me if I'm a jerk, so long as I'm right. People are so damned jittery and irrational that I wouldn't know if they were happy or about to stick a knife in me most of the time anyway. No sense fretting over it. People who get to know me usually end up telling me that I'm very gentle. People are crazy.
That's probably extremely dysfunctional, but then again I did just score a 45. :)
Posted by: Samnell | August 1, 2007 10:07 PM
Should have included - memorization ability has a lot to do with (a) pre-Vatican II Catholic school education. Memorize the Baltimore II when you're 8 and you've trained your brain for life. And a part-time job as a PBX operator for a large hospital when I was in college. You get really good at remembering phone numbers, page ID numbers, area codes, etc.
Posted by: Rugosa | August 1, 2007 10:09 PM
When I see license plates, I attempt to makes words out of them... For instance, earlier today I saw "90S 8N3"... The part that stood out to me was the "--S 8N-" part. S-eight-n. Say it now. I want that license plate.
Oh, and I scored a 29 on the test.
Posted by: sil-chan | August 1, 2007 10:25 PM
42? I don't believe it. I've always thought of Richard Stallman as the exemplar of an Asperger's Syndrome sufferer, and I'm nothing like him. Well, I'm not as extreme as him anyway. I don't think so, anyway; of course I suppose an inability to recognize the characteristics in one's own behaviour profile might be expected...
Aw shit.
Posted by: BT Murtagh | August 1, 2007 10:29 PM
20 ... I am practically dripping with normality, at least among scientists and computer geeks.
Posted by: Desert Donkey | August 1, 2007 10:30 PM
I scored a 20. "Average male scientist"
Posted by: Chuck | August 1, 2007 10:39 PM
32. No wonder I have so many issues dealing with folks....
Posted by: BGT | August 1, 2007 10:40 PM
#57 Jeff Knapp, take another look. The actual score is included in the short paragraph immediately above the box with the score rankings.
Posted by: BT Murtagh | August 1, 2007 10:43 PM
29. 29!
Yes, I am indeed an aspie-type. Let's straight-A's through 12 years of public school, never even tried, read the textbook in the first week and relied on my memory after that. School was 12 years of hell, all hell.
Here's how it began: in Grade 2 I was the smallest kid in my class,
PLUS being a brain,
PLUS having a noticeable facial deformity (droopy eyelid--in fact, I looked retarded),
PLUS being blind in one eye, I had no depth perception so I totally sucked at anything requiring physical coordination,
PLUS being a preacher's kid (in the wrong part of town -- my father was dedicated to helping the less fortunate, so I went to a school where Grade 3's pulled knives on their teachers),
PLUS having an effete English accent (my parents had emigrated to Canada, and even though I had been born in Canada, I had no friends, so I spoke like them).
So you can imagine what happened to me, before, during, and after class. And I wasn't allowed to get in trouble so I couldn't tell my parents. It was in Grade 2 I first noticed I couldn't see the blackboard. I knew my eyesight was bad, but there was NO WAY I was going to get glasses and have an even larger target painted on me. So what could I do? I memorized the eye chart, and once a year when the nurse called us in to check our health, I'd call out the numbers from memory. This seemed completely reasonable to me. For the next four years I got straight A's simply by memorizing everything the teacher said in lectures, while my eyesight got steadily worse.
Did my parents notice? No, because I didn't complain. I was finally caught when my parents saw me watching "Daktari" from six inches away, out of the inner corner of my right (not-blind) eye. So they dragged me to an eye doctor who put the lens-contraction against my head and I was forced to answer honestly. The doctor called my parents in and proceeded to berate them for having allowed my eyesight to deteriorate to this shocking extent. Of course this petrified me, because I was certain that I was going to be severely disciplined once my parents got me alone in the car.
But they didn't say thing. Bad enough that the syndrome made it difficult for me to read people emotionally, but my parents' strange way of interacting with us gave me no reasonable examples to model emotional understanding.
When I graduated in Grade 12, I was basically feral, an utter weirdo. By my late thirties I managed to master enough social interaction that I could pass in structured situations, like work. But I tell ya, I am so happy being smart. Understanding and being awed by the wonder and complexity and the incredible surprises of the natural world has given a lot to my life.
Hmm. I type like I talk. I'd better shut up now.
Posted by: Hairhead | August 1, 2007 10:57 PM
28.
I recognize myself in a lot of the comments. My son is ADHD. My nephew has been diagnosed AS. Nut can't fall too far from the tree, I suppose. On the other hand, there are a lot more people that there are labels, and none of these labels tell us what sort of person we are, or how any of us would respond to this or that situation. Now that I've taught for a few years, I tend not to worry about the labels unless the kid shows a propensity for '5150'---I tend to say things like, "Scott is goofy today," rather than "Scott's ADHD, that's why he's goofy."
Posted by: Scott Hatfield, OM | August 1, 2007 11:08 PM
I got a 34. I would have got 45+ as a kid, though. I majored in psychology to understand people, and joined a fraternity at an engineering school, so I could interact with somewhat normal, somewhat aspie people. While this test is ok, if you have asperger's syndrom, once you read a good description about it, you know.
Ah well, at least I'm good with computers, and I married a woman who basically takes care of my social life for me.
Posted by: Kent Kauffman | August 1, 2007 11:19 PM
29, a higher number than I expected. I was a sociable kid, with no problems that I recall with either people, or with a range of school subjects, or extra-curricular activities. No obsessions or anything like that. In fact, I feel that I have become more socially incompetent and more detail-oriented as I have got older, not less. On one hand I wonder whether this is the OCD, depression and other nasty stuff in the family history catching up with me. On the other, my academic career steers me toward greater solitude, exactness, and a detached view of human behavior. A neat convergence of propensities with learned behaviors perhaps?
Posted by: Clare | August 1, 2007 11:23 PM
So PZ, how do you score on OCD tests?
Posted by: Jsn | August 1, 2007 11:23 PM
Hairhead, I did the same thing with eye tests. I couldn't see, but they always used the same charts, and I hated getting anything wrong, so I had 20/20 vision from grade school up until college. Then I actually tried to read the numbers, found out I had terrible vision, and couldn't see a damn thing at night.
Posted by: Kent Kauffman | August 1, 2007 11:25 PM
43
Matches other on line 'tests' I've taken.
I would describe myself as 'hermit'.
Have been asked at various times in life: "Why don't you look me in the eyes?"
Because I don't want to!
Retired and live with a cat.
Posted by: khan | August 1, 2007 11:44 PM
my younger brother was diagnosed with aspergers.
personally, i think it's a sham. or at least way over-diagnosed. one of many fake-problems little boys get diagnosed with because they don't like school.
"school" being a social situation, not an educational one.
Posted by: arachnophilia | August 1, 2007 11:51 PM
"Yes, I am indeed an aspie-type. Let's straight-A's through 12 years of public school, never even tried, read the textbook in the first week and relied on my memory after that."
That sounds like me. I used to get very aggravated with review assignments. What's wrong with people that they need to do this all again? Most oif the time, I didn't even bother reading the book. Between what I could remember from lectures (I love lectures; what's wrong with people that they don't?) and what could be trivially reasoned out from the material already provided and the structure of the question, academics were easy. I only got into trouble when I couldn't be bothered to take assignments seriously. I'm fortunate to have made it through school just as the fad for replacing written work with arts & crafts was emerging. I missed most of it.
Posted by: Samnell | August 2, 2007 12:06 AM
wow, so biologists are LESS geeky according to this test than other scientists? and men are MORE geeky than women?
Posted by: dorid | August 2, 2007 12:34 AM
PZ,
Only two?
#80,
I have a feeling your parents had it too.
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | August 2, 2007 1:07 AM