Abstract
‘Fortune of others’ emotions, such as envy and gloating over the other’s misfortune, are complex emotions experienced in situations where events are presumed to be desirable or undesirable for another person. The present paper explores the notion that individuals with AS and HFA are impaired in understanding of envy and gloating. We tested the ability of adults with AS/HFA to understand envy and gloating and compared their performance to that of age-matched healthy controls. The ‘fortune of others’ emotion task and an additional theory-of-mind (ToM) task were based on a task designed to assess ToM on the basis of eye gaze direction. Individuals with AS and HFA showed no difficulty on basic ToM conditions, but were impaired in their ability to identify envy and gloating. Furthermore, the ability to recognize these emotions was related to scores on a self-rating scale of perspective-taking ability and the ToM task.
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10803-007-0515-9/MediaObjects/10803_2007_515_Fig1_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10803-007-0515-9/MediaObjects/10803_2007_515_Fig2_HTML.gif)
![](http://media.springernature.com/m312/springer-static/image/art%3A10.1007%2Fs10803-007-0515-9/MediaObjects/10803_2007_515_Fig3_HTML.gif)
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bacon, A. L., Fein, D., Morris, R., Waterhouse, L., & Allen, D. (1998). The responses of autistic children to the distress of others. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 28, 129–142.
Baron-Cohen, S. (1989). The autistic child’s theory of mind: A case of specific developmental delay. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 30, 285–297.
Baron-Cohen, S. (1991). Do people with autism understand what causes emotion? Child Development, 62, 385–395.
Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Mindblindness: An essay on autism and theory of mind. Cambridge: Bradford Books, MIT Press.
Baron-Cohen, S., Jolliffe, T., Mortimore, C., & Robertson, M. (1997). Another advanced test of theory of mind: Evidence from very high functioning adults with autism or Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 38, 813–822.
Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind”? Cognition, 21, 37–46.
Baron-Cohen, S., O’Riordan, M., Stone, V., Jones, R., & Plaisted, K. (1999). Recognition of faux pas by normally develo** children and children with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 29, 407–418.
Baron-Cohen, S., Wheelwright, S., Hill, J., Raste, Y., & Plumb, I. (2001). The “reading the mind in the eyes” test revised version: a study with normal adults, and adults with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 42, 241–251.
Bauminger, N. (2004). The expression and understanding of jealousy in children with autism. Development and Psychopathology, 16, 157–177.
Beaumont, R. B., & Sofronoff, K. (2007). A new computerised advanced theory of mind measure for children with Asperger syndrome: The ATOMIC. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
Ben-Ze’ev, A. (2000). The subtlety of emotions. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Blair, R. J. R. (1999). Psychophysiological responsiveness to the distress of others in children with autism. Personality and Individual Differences, 23, 477–485.
Bowler, D. M. (1992). “Theory of mind” in Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 33, 877–893.
Buitelaar, J. K., & Van der Wees, M. (1997). Are deficits in the decoding of affective cues and in mentalizing abilities independent? Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 27, 539–556.
Buitelaar, J. K., Van der Wees, M., Swaab-Barneveld, H., & Van der Gaag, R. J. (1999). Theory of mind and emotion-recognition functioning in autistic spectrum disorders and in psychiatric control and normal children. Development and Psychopathology, 11, 39–58.
Capps, L., Kasari, C., Yirmiya, N., & Sigman, M. (1993). Parental perception of emotional expressiveness in children with autism. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 61, 475–484.
Capps, L., Sigman, M., & Yirmiya, N. (1995). Self-competence and emotional understanding in high-functioning children withautism. Development and Psychopathology, 7, 137–149.
Capps, L., Yirmiya, N., & Sigman, M. (1992). Understanding of simple and complex emotions in non-retarded children with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 33, 1169–1182.
Castelli, F., Frith, C., Happe, F., & Frith, U. (2002). Autism, Asperger syndrome and brain mechanisms for the attribution of mental states to animated shapes. Brain, 125(Pt 8), 1839–1849.
Damasio, A. R., & Maurer, R. G. (1978). A neurological model for childhood autism. Archives of Neurology, 35, 777–786.
Davies, S., Bishop, D., Manstead, A. S., & Tantam, D. (1994). Face perception in children with autism and Asperger’s syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 35, 1033–1057.
Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113–126.
Decety, J., Jackson, P. L., Sommerville, J. A., Chaminade, T., & Meltzoff, A. N. (2004). The neural bases of cooperation and competition: An fMRI investigation. Neuroimage, 23, 744–751.
Downs, A., & Smith, T. (2004). Emotional understanding, cooperation, and social behavior in high-functioning children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 34, 625–635.
Ekman, P., & Friesen, W. V. (1976). Pictures of facial affect. Palo Alto: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Eslinger, P. J. (1998). Neurological and neuropsychological bases of empathy. [Review]. European Neurology, 39, 193–199.
Golan, O., Baron-Cohen, S., & Hill, J. (2006). The Cambridge Mindreading (CAM) Face-voice battery: Testing complex emotion recognition in adults with and without Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36, 169–183.
Grossman, J. B., Klin, A., Carter, A. S., & Volkmar, F. R. (2000). Verbal bias in recognition of facial emotions in children with Asperger syndrome. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 41, 369–379.
Happe, F. G. (1994). An advanced test of theory of mind: Understanding of story characters’ thoughts and feelings by able autistic, mentally handicapped, and normal children and adults. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 129–154.
Hare, B., Call, J., & Tomasello, M. (2001). Do chimpanzees know what conspecifics know? Animal Behaviour, 61, 139–151.
Heerey, E. A., Keltner, D., & Capps, L. M. (2003). Making sense of self-conscious emotion: Linking theory of mind and emotion in children with autism. Emotion, 3, 394–400.
Hertzig, M. E., Snow, M. E., & Sherman, M. (1989). Affect and cognition in autism. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 28, 195–199.
Hillier, A., & Allinson, L. (2002). Understanding embarrassment among those with autism: Breaking down the complex emotion of embarrassment among those with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 583–592.
Hobson, R. P. (1986). The autistic child’s appraisal of expressions of emotion. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 27, 321–342.
Hobson, J. A., & Hobson, R. P. (2007). Identification: The missing link between joint attention and imitation? Development and Psychopathology, 19, 411–431.
Kaminsky, L., & Dewey, D. (2001) Siblings relationships of children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 31, 399–410.
Kasari, C., Chamberlain, B., & Bauminger, N. (2001). Social emotions and social relationships in autism: Can children with autism compensate? In J. Burack, T. Charman, N. Yirmiya, & P. Zelazo (Eds.), Development and autism: Perspectives from theory and research (pp. 309–323). Hillsdale: Erlbaum Press.
Kasari, C., Sigman, M. D., Baumgartner, P., & Stipek, D. J. (1993). Pride and mastery in children with autism. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 34, 353–362.
Klin, A. (2000). Attributing social meaning to ambiguous visual stimuli in higher-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome: The social attribution task. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 41, 831–846.
Leekam, S. R., & Prior, M. (1994). Can autistic children distinguish lies from jokes? A second look at second-order belief attribution. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, 35, 901–915.
Lord, C., Rutter, M., & Le Couteur, A. (1994). Autism diagnostic interview-revised: A revised version of a diagnostic interview for caregivers of individuals with possible pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 24, 659–685.
Nacewicz, B. M., Dalton, K. M., Johnstone, T., Long, M. T., McAuliff, E. M., Oakes, T. R., Alexander, A. L., & Davidson, R. J. (2006). Amygdala volume and nonverbal social impairment in adolescent and adult males with autism. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63, 1417–1428.
Ortony, A., Clore, G. L., & Collins, A. (1990). The cognitive structure of emotions. Cambridge University Press.
Ozonoff, S., South, M., & Miller, J. N. (2000). DSM-IV-defined Asperger syndrome: Cognitive, behavioral and early history differentiation from high-functioning autism. Autism, 4, 29–46.
Parrott, W. G. (1991). The emotional experiences of envy and jealousy. In Salovey, P. (Ed.), The psychology of jealousy and envy (pp. 3–30). Guilford.
Parrott, W. G., & Smith, R. H. (1993). Distinguishing the experiences of envy and jealousy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 64, 906–920.
Pelphrey, K. A., Morris, J. P., & McCarthy, G. (2005). Neural basis of eye gaze processing deficits in autism. Brain, 128(Pt 5), 1038–1048.
Ponnet, K. S., Roeyers, H., Buysse, A., De Clercq, A., & Van der Heyden, E. (2004). Advanced mind-reading in adults with Asperger syndrome. Autism, 8, 249–266.
Rogers, K., Dziobek, I., Hassenstab, J., Wolf, O. T., & Convit, A. (2007). Who cares? Revisiting empathy in Asperger syndrome. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 37, 709–715.
Rojas, D. C., Peterson, E., Winterrowd, E., Reite, M. L., Rogers, S. J., & Tregellas, J. R. (2006). Regional gray matter volumetric changes in autism associated with social and repetitive behavior symptoms. BMC Psychiatry, 6, 56.
Rutherford, M. D., Baron-Cohen, S., & Wheelwright, S. (2002). Reading the mind in the voice: A study with normal adults and adults with Asperger syndrome and high functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 32, 189–194.
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., & Aharon-Peretz, J. (2007) Dissociable prefrontal networks for cognitive and affective theory of mind: A lesion study. Neuropsychologia, 45(13), 3054–3067.
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Tibi-Elhanany, Y., & Aharon-Peretz, J. (2007). The green-eyed monster and malicious joy: The neuroanatomical bases of envy and gloating (schadenfreude). Brain, 130(Pt 6), 1663–1678.
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Tomer, R., Berger, B. D., & Aharon-Peretz, J. (2003). Characterization of empathy deficits following prefrontal brain damage: The role of the right ventromedial cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 15, 324–337.
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Tomer, R., Berger, B. D., & Aharon-Peretz, J. (2005). Impaired affective ‘theory of mind’ is associated with right ventromedial prefrontal damage. Cognitive and Behavioral Neurology: Official Journal of the Society for Behavioral and Cognitive Neurology, 18, 55–67.
Shamay-Tsoory, S. G., Tomer, R., Yaniv, S., & Aharon-Peretz, J. (2002). Empathy deficits in Asperger syndrome: A cognitive profile. Neurocase, 8, 245–252.
Shaw, P., Bramham, J., Lawrence, E. J., Morris, R., Baron-Cohen, S., & David, A. S. (2005). Differential effects of lesions of the amygdala and prefrontal cortex on recognizing facial expressions of complex emotions. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 17(9), 1410–1419.
Smith, R. H., Turner, T., Leach, C., Garonzik, R., Urch-Druskat, V., & Weston, C. M. (1996). Envy and schadenfreude. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 22, 158–168.
Stone, V. E., Baron-Cohen, S., & Knight, R. T. (1998). Frontal lobe contributions to theory of mind. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 10, 640–656.
Stuss, D. T., Gallup, G. G. Jr., & Alexander, M. P. (2001). The frontal lobes are necessaryfor ‘‘theory of mind’’. Brain, 124, 279–286.
Szatmari, P., Bartolucci, G., & Bremner, R. (1989). Asperger’s syndrome and autism: Comparison of early history and outcome. Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology, 31, 709–720.
Tantam, D., Holmes, D., & Cordess, C. (1993). Nonverbal expression in autism of Asperger type. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 23, 111–133.
Van Dijk, W. W., Ouwerkerk, J. W., Goslinga, S., Nieweg, M., & Gallucci, M. (2006). When people fall from grace: Reconsidering the role of envy in Schadenfreude. Emotion, 6, 156–160.
Wellman, H. M., & Banerjee, M. (1991). Mind and emotioms: Children understanding of the emotional consequences of beliefs and desires. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 9, 1912–1914.
Williams, J. H., Waiter, G. D., Perra, O., Perrett, D. I., & Whiten, A. (2005). An fMRI study of joint attention experience. Neuroimage, 25, 133–140.
Yirmiya, N., Sigman, M. D., Kasari, C., & Mundy, P. (1992). Empathy and cognition in high-functioning children with autism. Child Development, 63, 150–160.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Noga Adler for her assistance in data collection. This project was also part of a research project that included the participation of Benny Nadler and Ira Kotlik-Konev. The author would like to thank Dr. Rachel Tomer for providing important comments on the manuscript.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shamay-Tsoory, S.G. Recognition of ‘Fortune of Others’ Emotions in Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 38, 1451–1461 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0515-9
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-007-0515-9