Baron Cohen et Al Study Flashcards
Memorise all the details of the study
Identify the groups used in the study
Group 1: Severe Autism and Asperger’s
Group 2: Normal
Group 3: Tourettes syndrome
How many males and females were in each group?
Group 1: 13 males, 3 females
Group 2: 25 males, 25 females
Group 3: 8 males, 2 females
Describe the ‘triad of impairments’ typically experienced by people with autism
Social communication
Social interaction
Social imagination
What is the fundamental question Baron Cohen et Al’s research?
How are people with autism different from those without?
What experiment method was used in the Baron Cohen et Al study?
Quasi/Natural experiment
What experiment design was used in the Baron Cohen et Al study?
Independent groups
How many participants were in Group 1?
16
How many participants were in Group 2?
50
How many participants were in Group 3?
10
Why was the research method a quasi/natural experiment?
Because the independent variable occurred naturally in participants so could not be manipulated by the researchers
What was the independent variable of the first hypothesis?
Whether the participants had/had not been diagnosed with autism
What was the dependent variable of the first hypothesis and how was it operationalized?
Participant’s performance on the Eyes Task; they were scored out of 25 by their number of correct answers
What is the 1st order theory of mind task?
The ability to understand what someone else thinks/feels
What is the 2nd order theory of mind task?
The ability to understand what someone else thinks someone else thinks/feels
What year did Baron Cohen et Al’s study take place?
1997
Describe the Eyes Task
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
Describe the Strange Stories task
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.
What was the first hypothesis of the study?
Participants with autism would have a significantly lower score on the tasks than those without
What was the second hypothesis of the study?
There would be no significant difference between the scores of participants in the control tasks
What was the purpose of the Gender Recognition test?
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.
What was the purpose of the Basic Emotion Recognition test?
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.
Describe the Gender Recognition task
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
Describe the Basic Emotion Recognition task
Participants were asked to judge photographs of whole faces displaying one of the six basic emotions as identified by Ekman in 1992.
What aspects of the ‘triad of impairment’ did this study test and how was this done?
Social imagination - Eyes task
Social communication - Strange stories
