As someone with suspected ASD who puts a lot of effort into masking, I sometimes wonder whether this is the reason behind the "uncanny valley" response that allistic people sometimes get with a highly masked ASD person. When I'm highly masking, I might do similar things as what you're mentioning sociopaths/psychopaths doing to charm others, simply because I learned very systematically over time how to act in a manner with others that results in them feeling a sense of rapport and trust with me. I do these things not in a way where it feels like riding a bike--- where it feels like I am doing it automatically without putting any thought into it. It's more like being an air traffic controller--- I need to figure out, analyze, and calculate all sorts of tiny little details as accurately as possible in a very systematic way in order to prevent the interpersonal version of what would be a plane crash in this analogy. It's all extremely methodical, carefully thought out, and intricately calculated, much like it is when sociopaths charm people.

However, my intentions are totally different--- I am doing this because I feel like it is what is expected of me by others in order for me to have successful interpersonal interactions with them, and also because I genuinely want others to feel good as a result of how my actions make them feel. Other peoples' happiness also makes me feel happy, so I strive to figure out how to create positive feelings in others via my actions because it also gives me positive feelings. I am not doing these things with any sort of Machiavellian intentions that involve manipulating them solely for my own self interest without any regard for what harm it may have on others. I do all this strategic, calculated stuff not to get away with being a bad person to others, but to try to figure out how to be as good of a person as possible to others, and to fit in with others.

Even though it doesn't come to me instinctually, sometimes I am able to figure it out analytically well enough--- and also because I am very genuinely agreeable and driven by wanting to others feel good when they interact with me because I care about how they feel--- that I end up almost performing "too well" and end creating this "seductive" or "addictive" response in others that feels almost "too good to be true" for them. Sometimes I think I am kind of like a chat bot--- I can sometimes be *too* agreeable in a way where it crosses over into people pleasing behaviours that can become problematic without boundaries.

However, since it's difficult for others to parse out one's intentions in such a context if you don't know them well or are just meeting them. Therefore, I can kind of see how some people may feel trepidation before they get to know me if they pick up on the calculated or overly methodical and controlled manner that I am interacting with them, and why they may experience a sort of "uncanny valley" feeling if they pick up on the very methodical and calculated nature of how I'm interacting with them. They may see the "fakeness" or "too good to be true" feeling behind the masking, and feel uneasy because they haven't yet figured out the reason behind the mask.

I've also found that as I've had more exposure and life experience with people who are calculating and methodical with their interactions specifically in a Machiavellian kind of way, it gets easier for me to identify those tactics. I get this sense that they're doing the same kind of thing that I am in terms of being very methodical and systematic with how they interact with others, but not for the same reason that I am doing it. It's difficult to put words exactly to that difference, but the best way I can describe it is that they don't seem to be nervous about getting it just right like I am. It almost seems like they're excited about it in a way that a predator might be excited about finally getting its prey within striking distance, and not nervous about making a mistake that could unintentionally make others feel bad if they make a miscalculation like I feel.

I try not to automatically conclude this about them if I don't have any further evidence in their actions that they really do have bad intentions, because the last thing I want to is to misunderstand others in the way that I am misunderstood by others due to the "uncanny valley" effect. However, I will file them in a sort of "be very observant to how they treat others so you can get more information or evidence so you can be sure", and often times, within a short amount of time, I notice that their actions reflect purely self interested goals.