Mr.Puzzles Has Problems With Emotion/Has Low Empathy

Mr.Puzzles has problems with Emotion/Has Low Empathy

First: I think it is very important to go over what Having Low Empathy means because a lot of people get it confused or simply do not know. So this is just info! ♥️ This top part♥️

•Cognitive empathy is what you do when you stop to think about how someone else might feel in their situation, the whole "how would I feel if this happened to me?" thing. Now, having cognitive empathy doesn't actually say anything about whether someone has or doesn't have low empathy because cognitive empathy is taught, however, there are some people who aren't able to learn it because of the way their brain works; they almost certainly have low empathy.

•Affective empathy, on the other hand, is not taught, it is what causes people to genuinely "feel for others"

It is what most people are referring to when they talk about having low or high empathy, it causes you to experience the same emotion you perceive the person to have. For some, this is only something they experience with people they're close to, some only ever feel it with fictional characters.

•Caring isn't really a form of empathy, but they're sort of related and I feel I should bring it up anyways. To specify, I'm using the definition of

"caring about someone is to be emotionally affected by things that happen to them"

which can be confusing and hard to tell apart from affective empathy sometimes. A friend you care about has something bad happen, so you're sad and then you might mistake that for feeling empathy because you're sad and they're sad, "so that must make it empathy, right?" when in actuality, the cause of your sadness was the bad thing happening to a person you like, not the fact they're sad.

-Fun Facts given to me by my friend @femboi-rayne , thanks for helping me further understand this subject homie!

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Now why do I think, Mr.Puzzles has low empathy?

Section A:

When Leggy saves him from drowning in the Monster Energy River the first thing he does is scold her for invading his personal space; This is his autism being quirky bc as we all know it is VERY easy to put one thing above the other

And Leggy frowns HARD... He reacts but doesn't seem to fully understand the weight of his actions. He has studied facial expressions so knows she is upset, but with how QUICK he is to brush it off like it is nothing... He does not understand WHY she is upset, he did not think to himself

" how would I feel, If I rescued someone and they scolded me as their first action? "

Because simply he does not think that way, he cannot think that way. He doesn't want Leggy to be hurt however the easiest way for him to defend her, is physically, as he can see it happening in front of him and act on it. Pain is an easy sign to see, as is danger so when she is in danger he acts fast and accordingly. When it comes to hurting her feelings, he stumbles over his wording, says things wrong, pauses like hes trying to think about it but ultimately doesnt know how to.

Prime example B:

The whole interaction with Luigi is GOLDEN example of how he has Low Empathy.

Some of you might say 'oh Mr.Puzzles is a villain so he was mean to Luigi on purpose!'

To that I say: you are wrong ♥️

Mr.Puzzles has NO reason to be mean towards Luigi right now as the man in green is currently a Blockade to the next room. Luigi is the gatekeeper to the next door, and Mr.Puzzles is genuinely TRYING to be nice in his own quirky way.

His logical way of thinking is to tell Luigi that: I'm not here to harm you" and that will let him pass!!

However Luigi gets upset and requests Mr.Puzzles to turn him into a meat mallet, as only he can do this feat. The TV man is upset his plan didnt work but also he looks at Luigi and does not think to himself "if i tell Luigi that I will not turn him into a meat mallet, he will get mad"

He thinks: oh I can't do this, better tell the truth.

Thus why he thinks: he did nothing wrong.

I told the truth to the guy, what did he want from me?? Why didn't he let me pass, I was a good boy!! He wasn't actively trying to be evil, he NEEDED to get past Luigi and failed bc he cant do conversations.

And the adventure he has with Leggy ISNT about him becoming a Nicer Person nahhh. He still wants to take over the world and be popular lolol!

The episode is about Leggy pushing his boundaries in and Teaching him about empathy ....somewhat.... Theres only so much he can learn about How to Empathise and it doesnt help that he is an emotional wreck.

He doesnt know how to accept the fact this little gremlin is being nice to him... Because she likes him. It does not click in his 4head, and the episode is dedicated to her teaching him that Hey: im here for you bc I Like you. Not because im following orders you dummy/pos.

Her way of showing him- violence... Isnt the HEALTHY way to show him but ill look at it as playful animal time like a dog playing tug of war with your pants ♥️

When hes already not that confident with emotions it's going to be much harder for him to learn how to think before he speaks. And even if he does learn this, he will not be on the same level as anyone else in the SMG4 crew. Low Empathy, it can be a struggle! He'll keep messing up and accidentally offending people, but he'll be trying his best.

That is: if he gets a redemption arc

•which i personally hope he doesnt bc i love him the way he is but at the same time moving from being an awkward villain to an awkward friend would be adorable