Explanations of Autism (theory of mind) Flashcards
Theory of Mind
We are aware that other people are able to represent the world in their minds
Examples of theory of mind
Recognition that other people have thoughts, emotions and intentions of their own
We infer people’s mental states from their behaviour
What does Baron-Cohen 1995 believe about ToM in children with ASD
People with ASD have ‘mindblindness’, a reduced ability to understand the internal mental states of other people
Dysfunctional ToM is a central deficit of ASD, accounting for social and communication impairements
What are the two abilities children should have if they have a ToM
1) can distinguish between physical and mental things
2) can distinguish between appearance and reality
example of physical vs mental
Child listens to a story about two characters
One holds a glass of pop, the other thinks about a glass of pop
The child answers questions about what each character can do
Neurotypical child understands that the person is thinking about pop rather than having it but a child with ASD can’t
example of appearance vs reality
neurotypical child knows that an object looks like one thing and can be something else, birthday cake shaped like football but is a cake
Testing ToM deficits
Sally-Anne test
Sally leaves room thinking marble is in basket
anne moves marble to box
asd child thinks sally would look for marble in box
Child with ASD 20% of the time knew that Sally would look for the marble in the basket
Strength of ToM
baron-Cohen et al (2001)
Showed photos of people’s eyes showing different emotions
Adults with ASD performed significantly worse than controls, suggesting impaired ability to infer emotional states from facial expressions
Weakness of ToM
does not account for non-social feature
including repetitive behaviours and interests that are a part of diagnosis under DSM-5
Frith and Happe (1994) pointed out some people with ASD did pass the test, meaning ToM explanation lacks validity because it is not a comprehensive theory of ASD
What is the ToM
Theory of Mind (ToM) can be described as the ability to understand/identify what other people
are thinking and feeling, through a ‘mind-reading’-like process.
Describe the findings of the sally test
85% of the control group (14 with Down’s
Syndrome and 27 neurotypical children) correctly answered, compared to 20% of the autistic
group. This supports the idea that a ToM deficit is responsible for autistic children being unable
to understand that people can believe something that is not true. This lack of understanding of
others’ viewpoints and emotions may also explain another characteristic trait of autism:
difficulties predicting the behaviour or emotional states of others.
What did Happe et al (2006) suggest
there is not one explanation for autism but both cognitive and biological aspects are implicated
Found in large twin studies the 3 areas that characterise autism are not related, so it seems that there might be different causes for all three. So, looking for one explanation is not a suitable approach
