Baron-cohen et al. (eyes-test) Flashcards
What is the title of this study?
Reading the mind in the eyes
what year was the study conducted?
2001
What is the psychology being invested?
the main idea of the eyes test was to investigate the theory of mind
the is the ability to attribute mental states to oneself or another person and this ability is the main way in which we make sense of/predict another persons behaviour
the notion is that many autistic individuals do not understand that other people have their own plans, thoughts, and points of view
it appears that they have difficulty understanding other peoples beliefs , attitudes, and emotions
What is the background of this study?
in 1997 the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test was developed to assess the theory of mind. this appeared to discriminate between adults with the Asperger syndrome or high functioning autistic adults from control adults
the two former groups scored significantly worse. however, the researchers were not happy with elements of the original study and wanted to upgrade their measures to make it better
WWhat are the aims of this study?
To test o group of adults with AS of HFA on the revised version of the eyes test. this was in order to check if the deficits in this group that had been found in the original study could be replicated
to test if in a sample of normal adults, an inverse negative correlation would be found between performance on the revised Eyes test and the autism spectrum Quotient
to test whether females scored better on the eyes test than males
What is the procedure of this study?
Research method: Natural Experiment (as the IV is naturally occurring) and Questionnaire
Experimental Design: Indépendant Groups
IV: Four groups of participants (naturally occurring)
DV: score on eyes test and autism spectrum quotient
Sample Group 1: group of 15 male adults with AS or HFA. recruited via adverts in the UK National Autistic Society Magazine or equivalent support groups. they spanned an equivalent range of socioecomonic classes and educational levels as seen in group 2
Sample group 2: 122 normal adults drawn from the adult community and educational classes in Exter, or from public library users in Cambridge. they had a broad range of occupants and educational levels
Sample group 3: 103 normal adults students studying from undergraduate degrees in Cambridge `university. this group is not representative of the general population and can be considered to have a high IQ
Sample Group 4: Randomly selected 14 adults from the general population and can be considered to have a high IQ
Initially, the first two authors of this study chose the correct word and the foil
they were then piloted on 8 judges
fo the correct word and its foil to be used, 5 out of 8 had to agree with the choice
no more than two judges should pic the foil
participants tested individually in a quiet room in Cambridge/Exter
Participants in AS/HFA group were asked to judge the gender of each eye pair additionally
Groups 1, 3 and 4 completed a questionnaire to measure their AQ
Participants were asked to read through the glossary and ask if they are unsure of any word. they were also reassured that they could refer to the glossary at any time
The sampling technique: opportunity and volunteer sampling
how were the original problems fixed in the revised study?
Choices
Original problems
forced choice between two responses meant that only a narrow range of 17-25 correct responses out of 25 would be statistically above chance
this mean that the range of scores for which the tests could reveal individual differences is only 9, which is too narrow
New design
Forced choice remained but there were 4 response options
there were 36 pairs of eyes used, giving a range of 13-26 correct responses
this meant that individual differences could be examined better in terms of statistics
Mental State
original problems
There were both basic and complex mental states, and so contained some items that were easy and which therefore risked producing ceiling effects
New design
In this version, only complex mental states were used so as to make the task much more challenging, and in this way increasing the likelihood of obtaining a greater range of performance in a random sample of adults
Ease of solving
original problems
there were some pairs of eyes which could be solved easily by looking at gaze direction of the face
New design
an equal number was used
Ease of guessing
original problems
target word and foil were always semantic opposite making it too easy to guess
new design
increased the level of difficulty by ensuring that the foil words had the same emotional valance as the target word
Ease of comprehension
Original problems
There may have been comprehension problems that might have contributed to an individuals score
New design
a glossary with all terms was included which was available for the participants to use at all times
What were the weaknesses of this study?
The participants had a one in four chance of guessing means lower validity
Low ecological validity
Quantitative data only was collected, so the reasons for particular data was not collected/explored
What are the issues and debates surrounding this study?
Application: plan supports lessons or therapy for student/people with AS/HFA
Reductionist: doesn’t take into account the full picture of understanding emotions
