baron-cohen Flashcards
1
Q
research method
A
- quasi experiment: IV is naturally occurring which is whether particioants have been diagnosed with high functioning autism, aspergers, normal or has tourettes syndrome
- Independent measures design
- the inclusion of the 2 control groups helped to isolate the extent to which it was autism or aspergers synfrome that was affecting adults in their ability to recognise the emotion in a persons eyes
2
Q
data
A
- quantitative data was collected as the answers that the participanst gave on various tasks were numerical (eg the number of correct answers out of 25 on the eyes task)
- this made it possible for the results to be compared across the different conditions of the experiment
- however, qualitative data might have been helpful in illuminating why the participants chose the particular mental state words that they did
3
Q
upheld ethics
A
- informed consent: participants gave their consent to take part
- protection from harm: the eyes task presented participanys with optins to choose from may have reduced any potential from harm by enabling them to give an answer each time; however it is possible that some may have been concerned that they were giving the wrong answers
4
Q
validity
A
- high construct validity: the fact that partcipants in the different groups were matched for mean age and intelligence levels helped the researchers to be able to rule out these out as possible extraneous varibles.
- the inclusion of people with tourettes syndrome helped the researcher to establish that it wasnt just the fact of having developmental neurphsychiatric disorder that caused impairment on the eyes task rather it was something specific to autism/AS
- high concurrent validity: the tests the participants were given to do, the inclusion of the strange stories task helped the researchers to confirm that it was actually theory of mind that they were measuring in the eyes task
- the inclusion of the 2 control tasks helped to confirm that poor performance on the eyes ask was likely to be because of impairment in theory of mind rather than an inabiliity to even recognise a persons gender and or an unfamiliarity with even the most basic of emotions
- the fact that different participants took 4 tests in different ordered helped control order effects and taking them individually ina quiet room helped to control for peer pressure or noise as possible extraneous variables
- however, the fact that participants were given words to choose from in the eyes task meant that the researchers couldnt find out the menta state that they really thought was being shown in the eyes as psrticipants had to choose from the options rather than saying what they really thought
- the fact that the choice was between one of the two words meany that there was a lieklihood that results could reflect successful guesses rather than accurate knowlrdge
- low ecological validity: no one is presented images of peoples eyes and guessing their behaviour, however the use of moving images would have made it more ecologically valid
5
Q
A
6
Q
reliability
A
high external reliability: to ensure that it wasnt just one persons opinion what emotion state was being presented in a pair of eyes, the panel on whom the photographs in the eyes task were tested was made up of 8 people
- the 2 groups of normal people deliberately compromised 25 males and 25 females as this was the minimum number required to establish a reliable effect
- low external reliability: however, when results were analysed baron cohen did compare the results on the eyes task for those participants with high functioning autism against those with AS but the sample sized ( 4 and 12 ) were too small to establish any rekiable effects as they could easily have been affected by anomalies
- high internal reliability: the procedure is standardised and replicable
7
Q
A
8
Q
sample
A
- partcipants were al from the UK
- they were obtained through a range of different sampling methods
- attempts were made to match the participants in different conditions of the experiment
9
Q
ethnocentricism
A
- not ethnocentric: as autistic spectrum disorders and tourettes syndrome occur within people in every culture, the results of this study could be applied to people from beyond the UK
- ethnocentric: there may be variation between cultures in the amount of experience people have at reading peoples emotions from the eyes alone (e.g. if living somehwere within muslim women wear the niqab)
10
Q
reductionist
reductionism-holism
A
- it is reductionist as the approach only focuses on understadning a diroder by isolating one variable which is the theory of mind and testing for this in an experimental way
11
Q
psychology as a science
A
- their study was replicable as it was repeated across many participants
- it was objective as answers to the tests were either right or wrong so it is falsifiable
- can lack objectivity as scoring of answwrs on the strange stories task could lack objectivity in terms of whether a reason has involved either a mental state or physical state
12
Q
socially sensitive
A
- research into mental disorders could have the potential to be socially sensitive specifically if it is investigating a deficit in peoples abilities
- focused on trying to achieve a more complete understanding of autistic spectrum in a scientific way
- baron-cohen put in efforts to put the findings from his research into positive uses
- latching onto the way in which children with autism seem to have a preference for modes of transport whose motion is determined by physical rules.
13
Q
how is baron-cohens research linked to individual differences area
A
- it is investigating a way in which peope diffe, nameley, being diagnosed as being on the autistic spectrum
14
Q
key theme of baron-cohen
A
understanding disorders
15
Q
how does baron-cohens study link to the key theme
A
- suggests that adults with autism or AS experience impairment when it comes to the Theory of mind (the ability to infer what another person is thinking or feeling)
16
Q
how does baron-coen change our understanding of the key theme
A
- the study shows that there are other conceptual frameworks that can be used to try and understand disorders apart from psycholoanalysis
- they have been exploring whether it is a cognitive deficit that is central to disorders on the autisti spectrum and also that the experimental methods can be used as the means by which to try and achieve such an understanding
- Individuals with autism do have an impaired theory of mind, regardless of intelligence level, which requires more sophisticated testing than previous research.
17
Q
how does baron-cohen change our understanding of individual, social and cultural diversity
A
- individual diversity: baron-cohen tells us about the autistic spectrum disorders that other people can experience whereas freuds theory tells us about the phobias that some individuals can experience
- Both studies develop an understanding of individual differences and why behaviour may
differ among people. Baron-Cohen et al were able to analyse specific characteristics that lead to changes in behaviour over a more sustained period of time whereas Freud
was explaining the reason some individuals experienced phobias for a relatively shorter period of time. - social: The contemporary study does not give further information about social diversity, nor does Freud’s.
- cultural diversity: even though baron-cohens study was carried out in the uk and freud was carried out in austria, baron-cohens study may not change our understanding of cultural diversity as we would expect to see people in the autistic spectrum in austria and we would expect to see people with phobias in the uk
18
Q
how are freud and baron-cohen different
A
- participants in baron-cohens study had already been given a diagnosis whereas in freuds study, little hans wasnt
- freud had only one particioant whereas baron cohen had 76 participants across the 3 groups
- baron cohens conceptual approach was different as he was cognitive whereas freud was psychodynamic
- baron cohens research method was different as he was a controlled experiment whereas freud was a case study
- baron cohen was a snapshot whereas freud was a case study
- baron cohen obtained qualitative data whereas frued obtained quantitative data
18
Q
similaroties between baron-cohen and freud
A
- both studies were engaged in the same kind of endeavour: trying to understand a disorder
- both studies, some atleast of the data collection was carried out in the participants own home
- the particioants in both studies could be assumed to all be within the normal range in terms of their intelligence levels
