Baron and Cohen

Question 1

1. a) In the study by Baron-Cohen et al. why did they need to devise a new test of theory of mind? (2)
   b) Explain what is meant by the term ‘theory of mind’. (2

Answer 1

• A new test of theory of mind had to be devised because they claimed that tests designed for use with children did not assess the more advanced theory of mind skills found in normal adults.
• In essence such tests produce a ceiling effect – whereby data cannot take on a value higher than some ‘ceiling’ and thus the task is not assessing abilities above the ceiling.

• Theory of mind – is the ability to infer, in other people, a range of mental states, such as beliefs, desires, intention, imaginations and emotions.

Question 2

2. In what way are individuals with autism the same as those with Asperger’s syndrome, and in what way are they different? (4)

Answer 2

• Individuals with autism are the same as those with Asperger’s syndrome because both groups share the common feature of a lack of theory of mind, which is universal among all individuals who have some form of autism.
• They are different because people with autism do not all experience the associated symptoms to the same degree; Asperger’s syndrome is a mild version of autism.

Question 3

3. a) From the study by Baron-Cohen et al. describe one of the control tasks that was used. (2)

Answer 3

• Gender recognition of eyes task – participants were required to identify the gender of the eyes used for the eyes task. Such a judgement does not involve mindreading but does involve face perception, perceptual discrimination, and/or social perception. Therefore this controls for any difficulties in those areas.
• Basic emotion recognition task – participants were asked to judge photos of whole faces which displayed the six basic emotions identified by Ekman (1992). This was done to check if difficulties on the eyes task were due to difficulties with basic emotional recognition. This task is not the same as the eyes tasks for two reasons – it involves whole faces and it tests only the six basic emotions rather than a fuller range of mental states. Such differences mean that it is easier to recognise emotional states on this basic task than on the Eyes task.

Question 4

b) Outline the findings from this task. (2)

Answer 4

• On this control tasks group 1; HFA and Asperger’s syndrome performed normally, this means there were no differences between the groups.

Question 5

4. Identify one similarity and one difference between the participants in the autism/Asperger’s syndrome group and the normal adults tested. (4)

Answer 5

• One similarity between the autism/Asperger’s syndrome group and the normal adults tested was that they were of normal intelligence, meaning an IQ above 85.
• One similarity is that they were age matched
• One difference between these two groups is the number of participants in each group. There were only 13 subjects in austim/asperger’s syndrome group, comprising of 13 men and 3 women, whereas in the normal group there 50 age matched adults; 25 males and 25 females.

Question 6

5. a) In the study by Baron-Cohen et al. theory of mind was tested using the eyes task. Describe this task. (2)
   b) Describe a different way to test theory of mind. (2)

Answer 6

• Eyes task comprises photographs of the eye region of 25 different faces; male and female.
• Each picture was shown for 3 seconds and participants were given a forced choice question – they had to select between two mental states terms printed under each picture. These were either basic or complex mental states.
• Happe’s strange stories task – is a test of advanced theory of mind skills that involves answering questions on a selection of stories and the characters in them.
• Sally-Anne test – a simple test involves two dolls. One doll places her ball in her basket and then leaves the room. The other doll moves the ball in to the box. The first doll returns and the child is asked where that doll will look for the ball. It is assumed that basic theory of mind skills are required in order to pass this test.

Question 7

b) Explain how such effects were avoided by the newer eyes task. (2)

Answer 7

• The eyes task is an adult test of theory of mind competence which could tell us more about these skills in adults with autism. This task is also more complex as the participants were required to identify the correct mental state of the image shown to them.

Question 8

7. a) Explain what is meant by the term ecological validity. (2)
   b) Explain in what way the study by Baron-Cohen et al. may be described as lacking ecological validity. (2)

Answer 8

• This term refers to how well a study can be related to or reflects everyday life. Studies with high ecological validity can be generalised beyond the setting they were carried out in, whereas studies low in ecological validity cannot.
• The study may be described as lacking ecological validity because the eyes task was unusual rather than lifelike. It is simpler than the real demands of live social situations, specifically the photographs were static in a way that the real social world never is therefore is low in EV.