Baron-Cohen (1997) Flashcards
(20 cards)
What is the aim?
To investigate a new test for theory of mind in adults (called the eye task test) as previous tests had a ceiling effect.
What is theory of mind?
The ability to understand that other people have independent minds of their own e.g. their own thoughts and emotions. It is suggested that people with autism lack this.
What is the name of the test for children under the age of 7?
The Sally-Anne test (with dolls).
What is the IV?
If the individuals are in the Autism, Normal or Tourette’s condition.
What is the DV? (4)
Score on the eye task out of 25
Score on the gender recognition task out of 25
Score on the basic emotions task
Score on the strange stories task
What is the research design?
Independent measures design.
What is the research method?
Quasi
What data was collected?
Qualitative, Interval
What are 3 controls in the study?
Same pictures in the task used, every participant was shown the picture for 3 seconds and all pictures were black and white (taken from magazines).
What is the number of participants in the Autism group?
What is the number of males and females?
How were they sampled?
16 participants
13 males, 3 females
Volunteer sampling from adverts in the national autistic society magazine.
What is the number of participants in the normal group?
What is the numb of females and males?
How were they sampled?
50 participants
25 males and 25 females
Random sampling from population of Cambridge (excluding uni workers).
What is the number of participants in the Tourette’s group?
What is the number of females and males?
How were they sampled?
10 participants
8 males and 2 females
Opportunity sampling from the tertiary referral centre in London.
What are the 4 tasks?
Eye task out of 25
Gender recognition task out of 25
Basic emotion task
Strange stories task
What is the procedure for the eye task?
Ps shown 25 pictures of eyes for 3 seconds, they had to choose 1 of 2 emotional states that the eyes portrayed in the picture.
What are the results for the eye task for each condition and mean score of the gender?
Autistic condition - 16.3 / 25
Normal condition - 20.3 / 25
Tourette’s condition - 20.4 / 25
Mean score for all males - 18.8 / 25
Mean score for all females - 21.8 / 25
Which 2 tests were controls?
What was the purpose of the control tests?
The basic emotion recognition test and the gender recognised task were controls.
The purpose of the controls was to make sure the eye task would not be too advanced for individuals with autism.
Which conditions did the strange stories task?
What was the strange stories task measuring?
What was the purpose of the strange stories task?
Autism and Tourette’s condition. Normal condition did not do it.
The strange stories task was measuring theory of mind.
The purpose of the strange stories task was to measure concurrent validity.
What were the stories based around?
Pretence (figure of speech), jokes, white lies and sarcasm.
What were the findings of the strange stories task?
The autistic condition were impaired on the stories whereas the Tourette’s condition were not. As the findings correlate with the results on the eye task, Baron-Cohen’s eye task should be measuring theory of mind.
What is the findings overall from Baron-Cohen’s study?
Individuals with autism lack theory of mind.
