Baron Cohen et Al Study

Question 1

Identify the groups used in the study

Answer 1

Group 1: Severe Autism and Asperger’s
Group 2: Normal
Group 3: Tourettes syndrome

Question 2

How many males and females were in each group?

Answer 2

Group 1: 13 males, 3 females
Group 2: 25 males, 25 females
Group 3: 8 males, 2 females

Question 3

Describe the ‘triad of impairments’ typically experienced by people with autism

Answer 3

Social communication
Social interaction
Social imagination

Question 4

What is the fundamental question Baron Cohen et Al’s research?

Answer 4

How are people with autism different from those without?

Question 5

What experiment method was used in the Baron Cohen et Al study?

Answer 5

Quasi/Natural experiment

Question 6

What experiment design was used in the Baron Cohen et Al study?

Answer 6

Independent groups

Question 7

How many participants were in Group 1?

Answer 7

16

Question 8

How many participants were in Group 2?

Answer 8

50

Question 9

How many participants were in Group 3?

Answer 9

10

Question 10

Why was the research method a quasi/natural experiment?

Answer 10

Because the independent variable occurred naturally in participants so could not be manipulated by the researchers

Question 11

What was the independent variable of the first hypothesis?

Answer 11

Whether the participants had/had not been diagnosed with autism

Question 12

What was the dependent variable of the first hypothesis and how was it operationalized?

Answer 12

Participant’s performance on the Eyes Task; they were scored out of 25 by their number of correct answers

Question 13

What is the 1st order theory of mind task?

Answer 13

The ability to understand what someone else thinks/feels

Question 14

What is the 2nd order theory of mind task?

Answer 14

The ability to understand what someone else thinks someone else thinks/feels

Question 15

What year did Baron Cohen et Al’s study take place?

Answer 15

1997

Question 16

Describe the Eyes Task

Answer 16

Each participant was shown 25, black and white, standardised photographs of the eye region of faces (male and female) and were asked to choose between two mental state words to best describe what the person in the photograph was thinking or feeling

Question 17

Describe the Strange Stories task

Answer 17

The participants were told a short scenario in which something is said that is not literally true. Participants have to explain why the character made that statement.

Question 18

What was the first hypothesis of the study?

Answer 18

Participants with autism would have a significantly lower score on the tasks than those without

Question 19

What was the second hypothesis of the study?

Answer 19

There would be no significant difference between the scores of participants in the control tasks

Question 20

What was the purpose of the Gender Recognition test?

Answer 20

To control for any other factors in the Eyes Task. It checks the social judgement of participants so that the only possible impairment is lack of theory of mind.

Question 21

What was the purpose of the Basic Emotion Recognition test?

Answer 21

To control for any other factors in the Eyes Task. It checks the social judgement of participants so that the only possible impairment is lack of theory of mind.

Question 22

Describe the Gender Recognition task

Answer 22

The same photographs of eyes used in the Eyes task were shown to the participants and they were asked to identify the person’s gender

Question 23

Describe the Basic Emotion Recognition task

Answer 23

Participants were asked to judge photographs of whole faces displaying one of the six basic emotions as identified by Ekman in 1992.

Question 24

What aspects of the ‘triad of impairment’ did this study test and how was this done?

Answer 24

Social imagination - Eyes task

Social communication - Strange stories

Question 25

How does the study link to the Individual Differences area of psychology?

Answer 25

It investigates the differences of being diagnosed on the autistic spectrum

Question 26

What area of psychology does the study best link to?

Answer 26

Individual Differences

Question 27

What were the four tasks that participants had to complete in the study?

Answer 27

Eyes Task
Strange Stories
Gender Recognition
Basic Emotion Recognition

Question 28

What was one aim of the study?

Answer 28

To develop a new, more ‘advanced’ test of theory of mind in adults

Question 29

Why did Baron Cohen et Al feel that past theory of mind tests were not suitable for testing adults with autism?

Answer 29

The tests were too simplistic and caused a ceiling effect

Question 30

How were participants sampled for the study?

Answer 30

1 - Recruited through an advert in the National Autistic magazine
1 - A variety of clinical sources
2 - General population of Cambridge
3 - Tertiary referral centre in London

Question 31

What were the conditions for the participants’ tests?

Answer 31

Individually in a quiet room either in their own home, in the researchers’ clinic or the researchers’ laboratory in Cambridge University

Question 32

What are the possible conclusions of the study?

Answer 32

Adults with autism possess an impaired theory of mind

Theory of mind deficits are independent of general intelligence

Theory of mind is not required to be successful in identifying gender or basic emotions from the whole face

Question 33

What was the mean score of participants’ performance in Group 1 on the Eyes Task in relation to the 1st hypothesis?

Answer 33

16.3

Question 34

What was the mean score of participants’ performance in Group 2 on the Eyes Task in relation to the 1st hypothesis?

Answer 34

20.3

Question 35

What was the mean score of participants’ performance in Group 3 on the Eyes Task in relation to the 1st hypothesis?

Answer 35

20.4

Question 36

What was the range of participants’ performance in Group 1 on the Eyes Task in relation to the 1st hypothesis?

Answer 36

13-23

Question 37

What was the range of participants’ performance in Group 2 on the Eyes Task in relation to the 1st hypothesis?

Answer 37

16-25

Question 38

What was the range of participants’ performance in Group 3 on the Eyes Task in relation to the 1st hypothesis?

Answer 38

16-25

Question 39

What was the range of male participants’ performance on the Eyes Task in relation to the 2nd hypothesis?

Answer 39

16-22

Question 40

What was the range of female participants’ performance on the Eyes Task in relation to the 2nd hypothesis?

Answer 40

20-25

Question 41

What was the mean score of male participants’ performance on the Eyes Task in relation to the 2nd hypothesis?

Answer 41

18.8

Question 42

What was the standard deviation of male participants’ performance on the Eyes Task in relation to the 2nd hypothesis?

Answer 42

2.53

Question 43

What was the mean score of female participants’ performance on the Eyes Task in relation to the 2nd hypothesis?

Answer 43

21.8

Question 44

What was the standard deviation of female participants’ performance on the Eyes Task in relation to the 2nd hypothesis?

Answer 44

1.78

Question 45

What is theory of mind?

Answer 45

The ability to understand what someone else is thinking or feeling without them explicitly saying so