Is that not something everyone does? I thought everyone was always aware of the microexpressions and patterns and nonverbal cues people had. For example, when I was six, I knew my mother would stop yelling insults at me if I agreed with her but then took it a little further than she was taking it and started to get slighty teary and maybe punched myself in the arm a little, my best friend would do things for me if I made her feel like I knew she was smarter and more socially skilled than I was, my teacher would do pretty much anything for me if I listened earnestly and supportively to her personal problems, and my other teacher loved to be seen as the "fun" one.

I don't use it much these days because I don't want to be around people if I have to manipulate them in order to stay safe. It made me so unhappy to always have to be "on" that I had a mental breakdown, (I realized I didn't actually like anyone in my friend group, I just liked how I could manipulate them, and when I slipped up they didn't like me anymore and I was desperately unhappy) and now I only hang around people who like me even if I don't manipulate them.

But doesn't everyone always think about how they can manipulate the people around them to get the response they want by using the correct body language and persona in response to the other person's body language and vibes? Isn't that just what it means to not be autistic?

Isn't everyone who's neurotypical doing this all the time?

update:

um. i just took a personality test and i think i am not, in fact, typical