Abstract
BACKGROUND: Previous research has found that people can make a variety of judgments about others based on brief samples of their behavior such as judging their social favorability and whether they wish to socialize with them. Non-autistic people frequently perceive autistic people more negatively than non-autistic people, although we do not fully understand the real-world consequences of this perceptual bias. This study extends previous work by investigating these perceptual biases within a real-world context: university. METHOD: Non-autistic university students (n = 25) watched short, candid video clips of autistic and non-autistic people. Participants rated different aspects of the stimulus model's academic experience, focusing on their motivation to study, academic success, grades, and happiness at university. RESULTS: Across all measures, non-autistic participants judged the academic experience of autistic models more negatively than non-autistic models, perceiving lower academic motivation, success, grades, and happiness at university. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate a consistent negative bias that autistic students may face from their peers at university. We discuss the importance of these results in terms of autism stigma and the potential consequences for improving inclusivity at university.