Social Psychological Explanations Of ASD Flashcards
Who developed the refrigerator mother theory?
Kanner in the 1940s. He created the 1st set of diagnostic criteria for ASD from an observation of 11 children and their parents. Psychodynamic origins.
What did Kanner say about the parents of ASD children?
He observed a lack of warmth from parents of a child with ASD. He said that children with ASD were brought up in ‘emotional refrigerators’ - cold, distant and overly intellectual parents. He said they ‘defrosted just enough to produce a child’.
Who was Bruno Bettelheim?
Child development specialist. Brought the theory to the public. Due to the abscence of a biomedical cause of ASD Bettelheim championed the psychodynamic theory - explained that ASD was an emotional disorder caused by emotionally detached mothers. In his book he compared ASD children to concentration camp prisoners (similarities in terms of deprivation).
What was Bettelheim’s proposed solution for ASD?
Remove children from these homes and provide them with a warm/emotional home.
How do children typically develop?
Child faces challenge -> becomes overwhelmed + withdraws -> parents respond with love -> child feels fine, returns to normal state.
How do children with ASD develop?
Child faces challenge -> becomes overwhelmed + withdraws -> met with rejection/coldness -> withdraws further.
Give a strength/weakness of the refrigerator mother theory (practical applications).
Suggests that emotionally cold, distant and overly intellectual parents leads to ASD in children. Bettelheim suggested that as an interventional technique, children should be removed from cold homes and placed into warmer ones. However, it may be unethical to remove a child from their home and so a better intervention may be more useful, like family therapy.
Give a weakness of the refrigerator mother theory (nurture).
Only considers nurture as it states that environmental factors like home life and the emotional unavailability of the mother is the leading cause of ASD. ASD is a complex disorder and the nature side is ignored (amygdala/genes). Therefore it is incomplete.
Give a weakness of the refrigerator mother theory (sensitive).
Socially sensitive. In the “Empty Fortress” Bettelheim said that ASD’s primary cause was the emotionless/un stimulating relationship between mother and child. Compared to concentration camps, mothers were a reflection of Nazis prison guards. This would have had a strong negative impact on ASD mothers and potentially shun them. Makes the mothers feel guilty/angry.
Why was empathising-systemising theory created?
By Baron-Cohen to address the parts of ASD that TOM could not (repetitive behaviours/rituals).
What is empathising?
A drive to recognise, identify and respond to other people’s emotional states.
What are the 2 components of empathy?
Cognitive element - recognising and understanding others mental state.
Affective empathy - ability to respond appropriately to people’s emotional states. People with ASD respond a person’s emotional distress with similar feelings. Empathy is impaired in those with ASD.
What is sympathising?
The drive to analyse and understand systems.
Eg- mechanical systems - computers, locks.
Numerical systems - calendars, trains.
This ability is important in non-social contexts as it allows us to predict how systems behave and make sense of our world.
What does the E-S theory suggest?
People with ASD have impaired empathising ability but hyper developed systemising ability.
How can E-S theory explain gender differences?
As females are considered better empathisers and men are better systemiser so more men are diagnosed.
What did Lawson et al (2004) find in relation to E-S theory?
3 groups of ps (males with Asperger’s, males without AS and females from general population). Each p completed 2 tasks, 1 empathising, 1 systemising. On the empathising task, females scored significantly higher than control males who scored higher than AS males. Females scored lower on both male groups on the systemising task.
What does the Lawson et al study suggest?
There are significant results that show males with AS and males have impaired empathising and they perform better at systemising.
What ASD characteristics can E-S theory explain?
Impaired empathising:
Difficulties in social interaction.
Difficultly maintaining relationships.
Inappropriate conversation responses.
Hyper developed systemising:
Ability to recall specific details accurately.
Narrow interests.
Repetitive behaviours.
Apply lego therapy to E-S.
If research says that ASD people have hyper developed systemising, we can use this to develop the social skills that ASD children lack. Lego therapy is child led and aims to improve social interactions of children by appealing their systemising brain. Children are given roles and asked to work together to build lego. Lego appeals to children and it is systematic.
Give a strength of the E-S theory (supporting evidence).
Lawson et al (explain and results). However study may be outdated.
Give a strength of E-S theory (correlates).
Neural correlates have been found to support E-S. Lai et al (2012) found that people with ASD had greater amounts of grey matter in the prefrontal cortex. This is associated with decision making/cognitive control.
Give a weakness of E-S theory (stereotypes).
May reinforce stereotypes of people with ASD. Strengthens the idea that those with ASD are unempathetic and creates an unfair representation of them to those without ASD. Although, it creates a more positive outlook on people with ASD as they are good at systemising.
