Baron-Cohen Flashcards
Explain theory of mind
The ability to attribute mental states to oneself, or one person. How we make sense of another person’s behaviour
Problems with first version of eyes test
- ceiling effectcs
- 50/50 chance being correct
- used very basic mental states
- both words were opposite
- more female than male eye pairs
- not all terms understood
changes made to the new eyes test
- 4 answers available
- equal female and male used
- increased 25 -> 36 images
- used more complex mental states
- all words same valence of difficulty
- glossary introduced
Aims
- to test as/HFA people for their ability to uderstand theory of mind
- to test whether there would be a negative correlation between eyes test and AQ for normal adults
- to see if female superiority remains like in the original test
Hypothesise (5)
- AS/HFA group would score* lower* in the eyes test, but unimpared on gender control task
- AS/HFA group score *higher *on AQ
- Females in groups 2 & 3 score higher than males on eyes score
- Males group 3 score higher than females on AQ
- scores on AQ and eyes test negatively correlated
Experimental deisgn
Independant
Which cognitive assumption does this study best suit?
- Similarities and differences between people can be understood in terms of individual patterns of cognition
Group 1 Pp (and what parts of the experiment they did)
-15
- all diagnosed with AS/HFA
- Autistic society support groups - VOLUNTEER
All four parts
Group 2 pp (and what parts of the experiment they did)
- 122
- normal adults
- Public libraries, adult education
- OPPORTUNITY
AQ & Eyes test
Group 3 pp (and what parts of the experiment they did)
- 103
- Students (Cambridge uni)
- VOLUNTEER
All but gender recognition
Group 4 Pp (and what parts of the experiment they did)
- 14
- IQ mathced to G1
- random sample from public
All but gender recognition
Type of study
Experiment - self report
Explain the AQ in Baron-Cohen
50 questions for a self report to see whether someone has potential characteristics of being on the autism spectrum (higher the score, more likely)
Where was the eyes test and gender recogntion taken?
individually, in a quiet room
Explain the purpose of the gender recognition task
Done as a control only on AS/HFA group
eyes test development stage 1
pilot stage:**40 ** sets of eyes judged by 8 experimenters.
- at least 5/8 had to guess correctly
- if more than 2/8 got the same wrong answer, set not useable
Eyes test developement stage 2
testing:
- ussing 225 pp from groups 2 & 3
- At least 50% choose target word
- No more than 25 (1/4) select the same foil
as a result, 4 items dropped from the eyes test
Conclusions (2)
- AS/HFA have less of an ability to apply the concept of theory of mind
- The revised eyes test can be used as a tool to find individual differences between people
Psychology investigated
theory of mind
Generalisability
positive:
- large sample
- males and females used
- diverse set of Pp
Negative:
- Small group of AS/HFA
- Group 3 could be smart - coming from Cambridge Uni
Reliability
positive:
- standardised eyes test, AQ
- Lab experiment, variables easy to control
- Inter-rater reliability in developing eyes test
- Controls used: groups + glossary
Application
revised eyes test could be used on other individuals than AS/HFA, eg. those recovering from brain surgery
- child version of eyes test
Validity
Positive:
- AS/HFA group diagnosed
- pilot study done to ensure validity of eyes test
- Group 4 - IQ match to G1
- Changes made from the og eyes test
- AQ compared to the eyes test
Negative:
- Ecological validity - eyes are static
- Quasi experiment
Ethics
positive:
- informed consent
- no deception
- privacy maintained
Nature or nurture?
both
