BARON COHEN APFCE Flashcards
Aim
To test whether autistic adults would be impaired on the revised version of the RET.
To see whether there was an association between performance on the RET and measures of autistic traits.
To see whether there were sex differences in no autistic adults on the RET.
Procedure (developing)
1) The researchers started with 40 eye sets/ target words/ foil words.
2) The target words/ foil words were developed/ piloted on 8 judges. At least 5 of the judges had to agree on the target word. No more than 2 judges could select a foil words instead of the target word. This process was repeated until the criteria was met.
3) After testing, 4 of the items produced inconsistent results and thus were removed. So the final result was based on 36 eye sets and 4 target words.
Procedure (implementing)
Ppts had to read through a glossary to ensure they knew the meaning of each words and could refer back to it.
2) Then, Each ppts were given a practice items followed by the sets of eyes and had to pick the correct word out of 4 choices.
3) Group 1 was also given a gender recognition test as a control tasks
4) Group 1,3,4 had to complete an AQ test at home and return it by post.
Results: Eyes test
Group 1 identified fewer correct emotions that the control groups.
Average number of emotions correctly identified.
Group 1 21.9
Group 2 26.2
Group 3 28.0
Group 4 30.9
Results: AQ test
Group 1 scores sig higher on the AQ test that the student comparison group and IQ matched group.
Average score on the AQ test
Group 1 35
Group 3 20
Group 4 19
Results in the comparison between the eyes test and the AQ test
There was a negative correlation (-0.53) between the AQ score and Eyes test. As a persons AQ score increases their ability to identify emotions decreases.
Results on gender differences
Eyes test: There were sex differences between the results of males and females in groups 2, 3 but not significant.
AQ test Males has higher AQ scores in the control groups than females.
Conclusions
- Autistics have an impaired cognition of identifying the emotions of others and thus lack a theory of mind .
- It could be suggested that males can be considered as having more autistic traits that females.
- The revised version of the test is more efficient at measuring social intelligence and thus is an accurate method of deciphering individual differences when assessing autistic traits.
Controls used
The test was completed in a quiet room in Exeter to control for extraneous variables as the risk of distraction is reduced. The use of control groups and a matched IQ group, establish the studies validity as they allow the researchers to determine that the variable of autism and not IQ is responsive for these changes inc internal validity. The test was pretested on 8 judges, increasing validity of the measures used. Control tasks for gender recognition proved that the there were features that could be identified that didn’t require the TOM. Standardised procedure (same test, same instructions)
Strengths 1
Lab experiment was used, so there was a high level of control and standardisation. Improving internal validity and thus a causal relationship can be inferred. (Control groups, pretested, quiet room,gender recognition talks)
Strengths 2
The revised version of the test addressed issues that limited the validity of results. (Examples) These changes led to to normal performances being below the ceiling of the test. (A scored lower)
Strength 3
Real world application- could be used as a diagnostic tool, programmes could be conducted to help autistics to develop interpreting emotions.
Weakness 1
In quasi-experiments it is not possible to randomly allocate ppts to conditions thus ppt variables
can confound the results as differences are not spread out across conditions. Thus there could be another variable responsible for causing differences.
Weakness 2
The task lacks ecological validity as in real life eyes are not static or 2D, thus the artificiality of the task and setting lowers ecological validity and makes generalising the findings difficult.!
Weakness 3
The experimental sample was small (15 Autistic males) which may not be representative of all people who have been diagnosed with ASD making it difficult to make generalisations.
