It attempts to explain the social and communication symptoms in autism spectrum disorders as deficits and delays in empathy combined with intact or superior systemising.
[11] The first inspiration is epistemological with a number of influences including historicism and the German separation between erklären and verstehen, which Wilhelm Windelband described as nomothetic and idiographic methods.
The second source of inspiration was interpreting gender essentialism from Charles Darwin's seminal book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex.
[25] In a 2018 article published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Baron-Cohen's team demonstrated the robustness of the theory on sample of half a million individuals.
[26] While experience and socialization contribute to the observed sex differences in empathy and systemising, Baron-Cohen and colleagues suggest that biology also plays a role.
[34] Baron-Cohen and colleagues performed a study in 2014 using 19,677 samples of amniotic fluid to show that people who would later develop autism had elevated fetal steroidogenic levels, including testosterone.
On the other hand, he says that systemising may help males become good hunters and increase their social status by improving spatial navigation and the making and use of tools.
[38] Baron-Cohen's research on relatives of people with Asperger syndrome and autism found that their fathers and grandfathers are twice as likely to be engineers as the general population.
Social theorists have been investigating the concept that females have protective factors against autism by having a more developed language repertoire and more empathy skills.
Female children speak earlier and use language more than their male counterparts, and the lack of this skill translates into many symptoms of autism, offering another explanation for the discrepancy in prevalence.
[31] The fetal testosterone theory hypothesises that higher levels of testosterone in the amniotic fluid of mothers push brain development towards improved ability to see patterns and analyse complex systems while diminishing communication and empathy, emphasising "male" traits over "female", or in E–S theory terminology, emphasising "systemising" over "empathising".
This theory states that fetal testosterone influences the development of certain structures in the brain, and that these changes relate to behavioral traits seen in those with autism.
[56] In a 2011 article in Time magazine, journalist and author Judith Warner wrote that Baron-Cohen "most dramatically wandered into fraught territory in 2003, when he published the book The Essential Difference, which called autism a manifestation of an extreme 'male brain'—one that's 'predominantly hard-wired for understanding and building systems,' as opposed to a 'female brain,' one that's 'predominantly hard-wired for empathy'—and ended up on the wrong side of the debate on science and sex differences.
In a 2003 book review published in the journal Nature, human biologist Joyce Benenson, while showing vivid interest in Baron-Cohen's findings on systemising, put in doubt the relative negative difference in empathising of males:"The idea that males are more interested in systemizing than females merits serious consideration ...
[8] In a 2003 Wall Street Journal article, Robert McGough wrote about responses to the theory by neurologist and pediatrician Isabelle Rapin and psychologist Helen Tager-Flusberg:[58] Isabelle Rapin ... finds Dr. Baron-Cohen's theory "provocative" but adds that "it does not account for some of the many neurological features of the disorder, like the motor symptoms [such as repetitive movements and clumsiness], the sleep problems or the seizures."
"[58] Some research in systemising and empathising in early life indicates that boys and girls develop in similar ways, casting doubt on the theory of sex differences in these areas.
[7] A cognitive style that more naturally opposes empathising, which has been given the name Machiavellianism, emphasises self-interest and has been shown to be strongly correlated with competitiveness.
[59] Psychologist and leading autism researcher Catherine Lord says the theory is based on "gross misinterpretations" of developmental data.
[60] Mirroring Helen Tager-Flusberg's 2003 warnings, Buchen added that it could lead to hurtful discriminatory views of autistic children "Some critics are also rankled by Baron-Cohen's history of headline-grabbing theories—particularly one that autism is an 'extreme male' brain state.
They worry that his theory about technically minded parents may be giving the public wrong ideas, including the impression that autism is linked to being a 'geek'.
"[60] In a 2003 article in The Spectator, philosopher Hugh Lawson-Tancred wrote "The emphasis on the ultra-maleness approach is no doubt attributable to the fact that Baron-Cohen works mainly with higher functioning autism and Asperger's syndrome.
[73][75] Reviewing her work for Nature, neuroscientist Lise Eliot supported Rippon's point of view, and wrote "The hunt for male and female distinctions inside the skull is a lesson in bad research practice".