Baron-Cohen psych, backround

Question 1

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Answer 1

A neurodevelopment disorder
That presents as social and communication difficulties, restricted and ritualistic behaviours and interests.

Question 2

Theory of Mind

Answer 2

• The cognitive ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others. These can be desires/ emotions,
• It is linked to empathy which is the ability to understand how others are thinking and feelining.
• How we use this knowledge to explain and predict the actions of others.
• Enables us to understand people may have different ideas and hold different emotions to us.

Question 3

Define empathy

Answer 3

the ability to understand how others are thinking and feelining.

Question 4

Ceiling effect

Answer 4

• Occurs when a test is too easy
• And all ppts in a condition score really high
• Problematic as researchers cant differentiate between results

Question 5

Basic emotions

Answer 5

Universally recognised emotions (that can be recognised without needing to attribute a belief to the person)

Question 6

Complex emotions

Answer 6

Emotions that require an understanding of soemone elses cognitive state

Question 7

Diagnostic and Statistical manual

Answer 7

• Used as a classificarion and diagnostic tool by doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists across the globe

Question 8

International Classification of Disorders

Answer 8

• Has a wider scope and covers all health-related conditions

Question 9

Foil

Answer 9

• Incorrect alternative words (used to describe emotions)

Question 10

Quasi- experiment

Answer 10

A design where there is no random assignment of participants to the different levels of the IV

Question 11

Intelligence Quotient

Answer 11

• A measure of intelligence
• Producing a score representing an indiviudals mental abilities

Question 12

Aspergers syndrome

Answer 12

A neurological condition in the higher functioning end of the autism spectrum which manifests in a serious deficiencies in social and communication skills.

Question 13

Empathy

Answer 13

The ability to understand how others are feeling and thinking

Question 14

Explain why the eyes test may not be an accurate measure attribution of mental state

Answer 14

• The pictures were of static, 2D eyes shown in isolation to the rest of teh face
• In real life, when were are guessing the emotional states of others we see moving eyes, facial expressions, body language
• Ppl could have guessed all the awnsers correctly

Question 15

Describe the backround of the study

Answer 15

• Subsequent research established a link between autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and challenges in social cognition, including difficulties in understanding others’ mental states. (TOM)
• Baron-Cohen suggested that people with autism have an undeveloped ‘ToM’.
• To measure the ‘ToM’ of individuals, Baron-Cohen came up with the ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’ task where participants would be evaluated on their ability to label others’ emotions by observing their eye expressions on photos.