Systemizing

 The Systemizing Mechanism 

 Let’s call the “Systemizing Mechanism” those parts of the brain

 that perceive patterns in changing information, which enables

 us to figure out how things work and predict the future. The

 Systemizing Mechanism varies in the population. It has been

 studied using questionnaires (the Systemizing Quotient or SQ)

 and tests that evaluate understanding of mechanics. 13,245–247 Like

 the Empathizing Mechanism that we met in Chapter 2, we can

 glimpse that the Systemizing Mechanism has seven settings, a

 single mechanism tuned to different settings, from low to high



 People at  Level 0  notice no patterns at all. They might notice

 that the church bells chimed, but they wouldn’t notice if they

 chimed in groups or be able to say how many bells there were.

 Their Systemizing Mechanism is tuned very low. Change just

 passes them by unanalyzed. Because they are hardly interested

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> in systemizing, they can deal with lots of change. Things can

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> happen unexpectedly, interruptions can occur, or they can

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> switch to a new activity even though they were in the middle

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> of a task, and it doesn’t bother them. They weren’t looking for

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> patterns, so they can deal with change.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> People at  Level 1  notice easy patterns, such as strongly rehearsed

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> ones (like even or odd numbers, alphabetical filing systems,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> or people’s birthdays), but they find it almost impossible

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> to figure out a novel system (like how to use a new appliance

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> in the house). They avoid subjects like mathematics at school,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> not being able to see the patterns.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> People at  Level 2  can see new patterns when they are

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> pointed out to them, but it is a struggle, and they don’t see these

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> for themselves. If asked to retrace how a pattern was found,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> they would not be able to do this on their own. For example,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> having bought a new cell phone, they might be able to follow

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> how someone else manages to operate it but be unable to do

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> so themselves.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> People at  Level 3  can cope with simple, short systems, but

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> they may find longer, more complex ones challenging, whereas

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> people at  Level 4  are quite adept at negotiating their way

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> through systems. Without needing a manual, they will pick up

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> a device and understand it, confidently and quickly, through

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> trial and error. More women are at Level 3, and more men are

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> at Level 4. In their everyday lives, at these levels people can still

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> handle novelty, unpredictability, and other people, without a

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> second thought.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> People whose Systemizing Mechanism is tuned at  Level 5 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> are likely to be interested in patterns and want to look for them

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> in their daily life and work. People at this level gravitate toward

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> the sciences, math, music, technology, and other analytic fields

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> (such linguistics, philosophy, or proofreading/copyediting)

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> where searching for patterns is at the core. They try to create

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> special environments (e.g., science labs) where they attempt to

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> limit the amount of change so that they can analyze the effect

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> of one variable at a time: removing  one  gene  at a time  from a

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> mouse to see what happens or looking at a chart of profits  one 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> month  at a time  to see what happens. They like to do  one thing 

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none">'' at a time. '' But they are not systemizing all day long, so when they

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> socialize, or when things don’t go as expected, they can deal

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> with unsystematic environments. At Level 5 they like systems,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> so their lives are more orderly and routine, and they may even

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> start each day by making a list of “things to do today” and work

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> their way through it. But they can still handle the unexpected.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:WarnockPro-Disp;mso-hansi-font-family:DanteMT-Bold; mso-bidi-font-family:WarnockPro-Disp">

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> Now we can get back to people with autism or Asperger Syndrome

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> because, according to this account, they have their Systemizing

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> Mechanism turned up  all the way  to the maximum

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> (  Level 6  ). 245 What is life like at Level 6? Here we discover individuals

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> who have to systemize  every  moment of their waking

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> lives. The only information they are interested in is patterned,

<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align:none;text-autospace:none"> systemizable information. Repeating numbers. Repeating musical

<p class="MsoNormal"> sequences. Repeating facts. Repeating movements and actions.

<p class="MsoNormal">

<p class="MsoNormal"> THE SCIENCE OF EVIL ON EMPATHY AND THE ORIGINS OF CRUELTY Simon Baron-Cohen