Baren Flashcards
What is empathizing?
The ability to recognize others’ emotions and guess what is on another person’s mind.
Also known as ‘theory of mind’.
What is high functioning autism (HFA)?
A mild form of autism that is not easily detectable but leads to difficulty in understanding others’ emotions.
What does concurrent validity refer to?
When a new version of a test checks the same variable as an older version and performs better.
It is proved by comparing results from both versions on the same population or known populations.
What was the first MITE test?
A test created by Baron-Cohen in the 90s consisting of 24 questions with 2 answer choices.
What was a limitation of the first MITE test?
It could not differentiate between high-functioning autism and parents of autistics due to guesswork.
How does the new test aim to prove concurrent validity?
By distinguishing High-Functioning Autistics (HFAs) from control groups, yielding lower scores for HFAs.
What is the overall idea behind the new MITE test?
To test if it measures the same variable as the previous version but does a better job.
Fill in the blank: High functioning autism is characterized by compromised _______.
[empathy]
True or False: The new test was designed to be less effective than the old test.
False
What is the number of questions in the revised test?
36(40) Questions
The revised test increased the number of questions to improve reliability.
What was the reason for revising the test?
Probability of chance results and guessing higher in the previous version
This led to similar scores between HFA and parents of Autistics, and ceiling effects where everyone scored high.
What type of emotional states were included in the previous test?
Simple emotional states
These were considered too easy and did not effectively challenge the test takers.
What type of emotional states were introduced in the revised test?
Complex emotional states
This change aimed to trigger 2nd order empathizing by requiring test takers to guess a possible reason behind emotional states.
What was identified as an extraneous variable in the first test?
Gender of eyes
The original test had more female eye sets, which influenced the results.
What was done to address gaze direction in the revised test?
Questions that gave away gaze direction were removed
This was to ensure that answers were not too easily inferred.
What materials were used for test construction?
UK magazines eye cut-outs. 40
These served as the visual stimuli for the test questions.
Who developed the possible answer choices for the test?
Baron-Cohen and Sally Wheelwright
They collaborated to create 4 possible answer choices for each question.
How many judges evaluated the test questions?
8 judges from OxBridge (4 male and 4 female)
This diverse panel was used to minimize gender bias in the test.
What criteria were set to avoid gender bias in the judging process?
At least two judges from the minority gender must agree to the target answer
This was to ensure that the test was fair and unbiased.
What percentage of judges needed to agree to the target answer?
> 50% need to agree to the target answer
This criterion helps validate the chosen answers.
What condition was placed on competing answers by the judges?
Not more than 2 judges can agree to a competing answer
This prevents any competing answer from gaining too much strength.
What does concurrent validity refer to in the context of the test?
If the test gives predictably lower scores for the HFA group, concurrent validity is proved
This indicates that the test measures what it is supposed to measure.
