Simon Baron-Cohen et al. Flashcards
Give the full name of this study
“Another advanced test of theory mind: Evidence from very high - functioning adults with autism or Asperger’s Syndrome”
What year did the study take place?
1997
Aim
To be able to differentiate between neurotypical adults and people with Autism spectrum disorder by looking/comparing their ability to determine peoples emotions
IV
The type of person or group that took the test
DV
The score that the participants score
Participants
Group 1: 16 (4 HFA, 12 AS), 13 Male and 3 Female - aged 19 - 49 years. Mean - 26.6 years
Group 2: 50 normal adults - 25 Male and 25 Female - 18 to 48 yrs. Mean - 30 years
Group 3: 10 adults with Tourette’s - 8 males, 2 females, 18 - 47. Mean - 27.77
Procedure
- Got a group of 8 neurotypical people who were supervised by 4 autism specialists, who came up with an agreed and correct list of emotions against a picture of eyes
- Participants then got given 2 words, a picture of some eyes, and were told to select which word best described the emotion.
- They gave them 3 seconds to answer. The people were in black and white and only showed eyes
What was the mean score of AS and HFA?
16.3/25
What was the mean score of normal adults?
20.3/25
Tourette’s adults mean score
20.4/25
Normal male average score
18.8
Normal females average score
21.8/25
Criticisms
Did not allow to look at rest of the body - lack of ecological validity
Low sample size
Evaluation of representivity and Reliability
They employ control tasks to increase the validity of the task by accounting for other perceptual or social cognitive skills for that could account for difficulties of the eyes task
Established concurrent validity - more valid
Lack of ecological validity
Not simple enough as nobody relies on just eyes to guess emotions
Conclusions
Males find emotions harder to understand then women and people with AS or HFA find it even harder
Having Tourette’s made no difference to results
