Definition
Theory of mind is the ability to attribute thoughts, beliefs, and intentions to others and to recognize that they differ from your own. Older autism research framed autistic people as lacking it, a claim now widely challenged.
Why It Matters
How this idea is used matters, because the deficit framing was used to justify treating autistic people as if they could not understand others. The double empathy problem reframes the difficulty as mutual and situational rather than a one-sided lack.
Common Misconception
Autistic people are not unable to understand other minds. Much of the apparent gap is a two-way mismatch between neurotypes. In a 2020 study, autistic people shared information with one another as well as non-autistic people did with each other, and the drop-off happened in mixed groups.