Individual differences area: Baron-Cohen Flashcards

1
Q

What is autism?

A

A lifelong developmental disability that affects how a person communicates with and related to other people

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2
Q

What are the ‘triads of impairment’?

A

Social communication, social interactions, social imagination

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3
Q

Describe social communication in terms of being part of the triad of impairment

A

May not read a p’s face or tone of voice and may have difficulty understanding jokes

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4
Q

Describe social interactions in terms of being part of the triad of impairment

A

May behave in a way deemed to be inappropriate (e.g. stand to close)

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5
Q

Describe social imagination in terms of being a part of the triad of impairment

A

Find it hard to predict what might happen next or anticipate danger

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6
Q

Define theory of mind

A

The ability to understand others’ mental states and that others have independent minds of their own

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7
Q

What is the ceiling effect?

A

A task that is too simple, it doesn’t show full potential of someone’s ability (or inability)

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8
Q

What is tourette sydrome?

A

A neurological disorder characterised by tics - sudden involuntary movements or vocalisations

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9
Q

What was Baron-Cohen’s hypothesis in terms of the adults with autism?

A

That the adults with autism of aspergers syndrome would be impaired on a theory of mind task called the eyes task (despite being normal IQ)

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10
Q

What was Baron-Cohen’s hypothesis in terms of the normal population?

A

Females would perform better on the eyes task than males

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11
Q

What was the ‘condition’ of group 1?

A

Autism/Asperges

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12
Q

How large was the sample size of group 1?

A

16

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13
Q

What was the age range of group 1?

A

18-49

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14
Q

What was the IQ level of group 1?

A

Normal

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15
Q

How was the sample from group 1 obtained?

A

From clinical sources and from an advert in communication magazine

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16
Q

Why was the sample from group 1 included?

A

To see if autistic adults could not assess mental states via an eye task

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17
Q

What was the ‘condition’ of group 2?

A

‘Normal’

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18
Q

What was the sample size of group 2?

A

50

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19
Q

What was the gender mix of group 2?

A

25 males and 25 females

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20
Q

What was the mean age of group 2?

A

30

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21
Q

What was the age range of group 2?

A

18-48

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22
Q

What was the IQ level of group 2?

A

Normal

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23
Q

How was the sample from group 2 obtained?

A

General population from Cambridge

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24
Q

Why was the sample from group 2 included?

A

As a control group and to see if females are better than males at the eyes task

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25
Q

What was the ‘condition’ of group 3?

A

Tourettes syndrome

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26
Q

What was the sample size of group 3?

A

10

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27
Q

What was the age range of group 3?

A

18-47

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28
Q

What was the IQ level of group 3?

A

Normal

29
Q

How was the sample from group 3 obtained?

A

Attending a referral clinic in London

30
Q

Why was group 3 included?

A

As a control - Tourette’s adults would also have their life disrupted/a similar genetically developed disorder

31
Q

What was the IV of Baron-Cohen’s study?

A

Impairment or not: Autism/Aspergers, Normal, Tourettes

32
Q

Where were P’s tested?

A

In a quiet room, at home, in the researchers clinic or in a lab at the university

33
Q

Why were the 4 tasks given in a random order?

A

To reduce order effects

34
Q

Why were the 2 control tasks only completed by those with Autism/AS?

A

To check whether they had any basic processing or perception problems which would influence their ability to complete the theory of mind eyes task

35
Q

How many photos were used in the eyes task?

A

25

36
Q

How long was each photo presented for in the eyes task?

A

3 seconds

37
Q

Were were the photos sourced from in the eyes task?

A

Magazines

38
Q

What was the condition and the size of the photographs in the eyes task?

A

15 x 10cm black and white photo of the eye region

39
Q

What were P’s asked to do in the eyes task?

A

Pick which word (out of 2) best described how the person in the photo was feeling

40
Q

What were the 2 options that were given in the eyes task?

A

Semantic opposites (e.g. Happy thought or Sad thought)

41
Q

Who decided what the semantic opposites would be?

A

4 judges

42
Q

How did the 4 judges come to a decision of the semantic opposites?

A

In open discussion with one another

43
Q

How did they ensure that the choices made by the initial 4 judges was accurate?

A

They showed the photos with the choices to another 8 judges unaware of the aims and they rated the target words

44
Q

What were the strange stories?

A

They were 2 examples of 12 story types in which P’s were asked why the character said what they said in the story

45
Q

Give 5 examples of the 12 story types?

A

Lie, white lie, joke, figure of speech and irony

46
Q

What did the character do in the strange stories?

A

They would say something which is not literally true

47
Q

How were answers in the strange stories tasks rated?

A

As correct or incorrect and either involving mental states/psychological factors or physical states

48
Q

What were the 2 control tasks?

A

Gender recognition and basic emotion recognition

49
Q

Describe the gender recognition task

A

Same eyes in the eyes task were shown and P’s had to identify the gender of the person

50
Q

Describe the basic emotion recognition task

A

Photos of full faces were shown giving one of the 6 basics emotions (happy, sad, angry, disgust and surprised) and P’s had to identify which emotion the face was feeling

51
Q

What was the mean score of group 1 (autism) on the eyes task?

A

16.3

52
Q

What was the mean score of group 2 (normal) on the eyes task?

A

20.3

53
Q

What was the mean score of group 3 (tourettes) on the eyes task?

A

20.4

54
Q

What was the difference in mean score between ‘normal’ males and females on the eyes task?

A

Males - 18.8

Females - 20.8

55
Q

What were the results in terms of the strange stories task and the control tasks?

A

Those with autism struggled with the strange stories tasks whereas the other groups didn’t and those with autism were not impaired on the controlled task

56
Q

What was the type of data collected?

A

Quantitative

57
Q

What can we conclude from Baron-Cohen’s findings in terms of mindreading abilities of adults with autism? and in terms of males and females from the ‘normal’ population?

A

Adults with autism despite being of normal IQ have subtle deficits in mindreading abilities and within the normal population, adult females are significantly better at mindreading than males

58
Q

What is a weakness of the sample in the autism group?

A

Quite a small sample so difficult to generalise (especially females although this does represent actual rates of autism)

59
Q

Which ethical guidelines did Baron-Cohen uphold?

A

Consent

Withdrawal - P’s could stop answering questions

60
Q

Which ethical guidelines did Baron-Cohen break?

A

Protection from harm if P’s worried about giving the wrong answer
Debrief - not mentioned

61
Q

To what extent is Baron-Cohen’s study ethnocentric?

A

Autism/Tourettes occurs across all cultures however cultural differences may impact one’s ability to read emotion (e.g. Muslim women wearing a Niqab)

62
Q

Was the procedure controlled and standardised? (internal reliability)

A

Yes - same photos and same instructions

63
Q

How did Baron-Cohen address issues of reliability in the construction of the eyes task? (internal reliability)

A

Results were consistent between judges so ensured answers were correct

64
Q

Was the sample large enough to check for consistency? (external reliability)

A

Quite small sample of Autistic and Tourettes

65
Q

Why was the ‘forced choice’ nature of the eyes task a problem? (internal validity)

A

Only 2 choices were given so P’s could’ve guessed - are people with Autism just less good at guessing

66
Q

How did the use of the strange stories help to improve validity? (concurrent validity)

A

Allowed B-C to test the eyes task was actually measuring how autism affects perception

67
Q

Was it actually theory of mind that the eyes task was testing? (construct validity)

A

Effective use of matching participants and checks to see that it was not just a general deficit (through use of the control tasks)

68
Q

Did the eyes task resemble real life? (ecological validity)

A

Not really, normally we see someone’s whole face in colour and other clues would suggest a persons emotions