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Invisible agents and imaginary realities in autism
2017 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Other academic)
Abstract [en]

In this paper, empirical material from an on-going PhD-project on religiosity in young adults on the autism spectrum is presented. This interdisciplinary study focuses primarily on the role of mentalizing and sensory processing in religious representation and experience, and two novel hypotheses are put forward. First, invisible agents (e.g. gods, angels and spirits) seem more manageable, compared to embodied human interaction, for autistic individuals who may find body language, facial expressions and intonation perplexing. Second, there is possibly an autistic subgroup of fantasy prone individuals, spending much time in imaginary worlds that are experienced as realistic, and having sensory experiences that are considered to be paranormal. It is argued that daydreaming and enchantment fill the purpose of both escapism and adaptation, and is used to cope with socio-cognitive issues as well as existential challenges.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2017.
National Category
Religious Studies
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:du-42533OAI: oai:DiVA.org:du-42533DiVA, id: diva2:1693897
Conference
International Association for the Psychology of Religion
Available from: 2022-09-08 Created: 2022-09-08 Last updated: 2022-09-15Bibliographically approved

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Visuri, Ingela

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