Baron-Cohen (1997)

Question 1

Aim

Answer 1

Baron-Cohen et al aimed to build on Happé’s research by using an adult test to assess theory of mind competence in high-functioning adults with autism or AS.

Question 2

Research method

Answer 2

This was a quasi/natural experiment because the independent variable (IV) – the type of person; adults with high-functioning autism/AS, normal adults and adults with Tourettes Syndrome. The dependent variable (DV) was the performance – score out of 25 – on the Eyes Task

Question 3

Sample

Answer 3

The study used a matched participants design because the group of normal adults and the group with TS were age-matched with the group of adults with autism/AS. All participants were considered to be of normal intelligence.

16 individuals with high-functioning autism or Asperger Syndrome. Recruited through an advert in the National Autistic magazine and a variety of clinical sources.

50 normal age-matched adult.

10 adults with Tourette Syndrome also age-matched with groups 1 and 2.

Question 4

Procedure: The Eyes Task

Answer 4

Participants were shown 25 black and white photographs of eyes for 3 seconds each. They were then asked which mental state is best represented in the eyes using a semantic differential scale of two mental states.

Question 5

Procedure: The Gender Recognition Task

Answer 5

Involved identifying the gender of the eyes used in the Eyes Task. The task controlled for face perception, perceptual discrimination and social perception.

Question 6

Procedure: The Basic Emotion Recognition Task

Answer 6

Involved judging photographs of whole faces displaying basic emotions identified by Ekman (1992). The task was done to check whether difficulties on the Eyes Task were due to difficulties with basic emotional recognition.

Question 7

Findings

Answer 7

1. These results seem to provide evidence that adults with autism/AS do possess an impaired theory of mind, e.g. the mean score for normal adults (20.3) was significantly higher than the mean autism/AS mean score (16.3).
2. Normal females performed significantly better than normal males on the Eyes Task (mean 21.8 versus 18.8) but the normal males were significantly better than the autism/AS group (mean 18.8 versus 16.3).
3. On the Gender and Emotion control tasks, there were no differences between the groups.