No, of course not. They choose less kind words to express that.
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this post was submitted on 02 May 2026
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But you're adding to the question. It doesn't ask how often people tell you that at all. It literally just asks if people tell you that, which they do.
OOPs initial instinct was correct. You're supposed to answer truthfully based on your actual observed experiences, not answer questions about others' assessments your behavior with your own internal assessment of that behavior. Overthinking surveys can skew answers inappropriately.
I think overthinking on surveys might have a correlation with autism
Maybe there should be another two questions to every question:
A- How much time did you take to think about the answer this question?
B- Which was the other answer you were considering chosing?
These tests are so bad for this reason.
There's a lot of questions that are like "do you know how to socialize" and I'll sometimes get extrovert because obviously yes. The question should really be "do you want to" or "do you enjoy".
How likely are you to recommend our product to your friends?
Extremely unlikely, because I just dont talk about random products to my friends...
We once had a great argument at work between HR and a senior developer, who didnβt have friends and if he had, prefered them to not work at the same company, hence answering straight 0 to how likely he would recommend the employer to his friends. He absolutely enjoyed working there nevertheless.
Haha yeah, I am on the workforce going on three decades, and no way I'd mix work and play.
Few years back my employer tried to start a local tech conference. All of us got invite codes, "50% off for your friends". If you had a certain number of referrals you'd get a cash bonus on top, dont remember how much, couple hundred bucks. I passed that code on exactly zero times, because of course I wouldn't ask my friends to spend money and obvs for me that was a work event. Why would I want my private circle there?
Exactly, that would be a hard pass from me too haha
I mean why would they include βpeople tell meβ in the question if it wasnβt important!
Because it is important.
You think you are being too literal but folks around you might not.
The intent is to catch being so literal it causes friction in social interactions. You fall to recognize the intended meaning behind interactions. People get actively annoyed to the point they let you know.
Self assessment is not going to work too well, you have to provide externally observed phenomenon.
This wasn't a test for any kind of neurodivergence, but on a test for a job many years ago I was presented with the question "would you ever think about taking money from the cash register?"
So... Clearly the answer they wanted was "no", right? But the act of reading and understanding the question requires you to think about taking money from the cash register! Even if just to reject the idea.
I answered "yes" thinking I was so clever for spotting their trick question. Turns out that was not their intent and I grossly over thought it.
I did not get the job.
Turns out that was not their intent and I grossly over thought it.
Yeah, I fell for this when I was just starting out job hunting. It's basically a "is this your first time taking an employment test?" Test, because it's very clear they just want you to lie to them once you realize what answers are failing.
The answer is obviously yes. You have to give change.
also, like, how else are you going to give change
Or do the count at the end of the night?
You must only put money into the magic box
If you're working a cash register they probably don't want people who think too deeply either. It's sort of like that famous case where the police department refused to hire people with high or low IQs
I only got "on the spectrum" when I was 17 on one of these tests because of that. Turns out if you answer the question with "what did the NT have in mind / how would they answer in my situations" got me a much higher score.
Overthinking multiple choice questions, stressing about all the ways in which the answers could be ambiguous, and considering the intention of each question and how it fails to adequately address the thing that it's attempting to.
Yeah, that tracks...
Do neurotypicals really not consider such things? I feel like anything I ever say I think through a million different ways it might be taken.
Do neurotypicals really not consider such things?
I wouldn't know.
I feel like anything I ever say I think through a million different ways it might be taken.
Same, and often I'm still blindsided by the way it ends up getting taken. What's worse is that my mitigating steps get mistaken even worse!
Same, and often I'm still blindsided by the way it ends up getting taken. What's worse is that my mitigating steps get mistaken even worse!
Absolutely way too true haha
That comes from a lifetime of being misinterpreted. If everything you say from when you're a teen until your late twenties gets taken in a million different ways other than that you intended, you start to over analyze the response to every question you give, you need to be able to anticipate every way that neurotypicals will misunderstand you and mitigate against it.
And no, neurotypicals do not consider such things, because that experience rarely if ever happens to them.
you need to be able to anticipate every way that neurotypicals will misunderstand you and mitigate against it.
How NT manage to understand each other?
My best guess is that they have a secret code that they all somehow intuitively understand. I must have missed the class where you learn that code...
Is there a study beyond confirmation bias that shows this? Not being offensive, I'd just love to read it.
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A lot of tests are simply worded poorly.
Me raving about why people ask you how are if they don't want an answer π
Also if I have a cake, I'm going to eat it too. If I can't have my cake AND eat it too I don't want a damn cake! π I always just think of a kid sadly watching their cake knowing they're not allowed to eat it ππππ
You can't eat your cake and have it too. They just flip the saying because it sound better the other way around. But the core idea is that once you eat the cake it's gone; a cake is both a decoration and a dessert, but the utility of one destroys the other.
I really dislike questions like this. Iβm just ND enough where I get both sides of the question and itβs almost immobilizing. What do they actually want? I gotta overthink this.
No people donβt tell me, but I get what they might say, even though itβs not what another person would say, itβs actually asking me about myself.
Who tf writes questions like this?
But it is trying to ask about others' assessmemt of you. Because if you describe your self assessment, you aren't going to do a good job.
If you are totally oblivious, then you won't recognize.
Conversely, you think you take everything too literally but none of your peers notice anything unusual.
It has to be so bad that your daily social interactions are damaged because folks are annoyed that you don't understand and can't help but to let you know.
If on the other hand you perceive the intent but just also constantly think about what the literal meaning would be, that's not really a sign, because you were able to perceibe the intended message too.
I hated that question, it's a simple yes or no on a factual statement - either people do tell you or they don't, there's no degrees of agreement. Anyway, turns out I'm autistic.
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