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Baron-Cohen Answers

Baron-Cohen Answers. Section A style. Why did they need to devise a new test of theory of mind? [2]. Previous tests (Sally Anne) designed for a 6 year old Ceiling effect, too easy for an adult

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Baron-Cohen Answers

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  1. Baron-Cohen Answers Section A style

  2. Why did they need to devise a new test of theory of mind? [2] • Previous tests (Sally Anne) designed for a 6 year old • Ceiling effect, too easy for an adult • Passing the test doesn’t prove that an adult has an intact theory of mind, it just proves that they can pass a test designed for a 6 year old

  3. Explain what is meant by the term ‘theory of mind’ [2] • Ability to understand that other people have different views from yourself • Ability to ‘read’ different mental states in other people • Ability to infer another person’s thoughts, feelings, beliefs, intentions… • Ability to understand other peoples’ mental states and emotions (eg surprise, disgust)

  4. Identify one of the word pairs in the Eyes Task [2] • Concerned – unconcerned, noticing you – ignoring you, attraction – repulsion, relaxed – worried…

  5. Outline one finding from the Eyes Task [2] • The Autistic group scored an average of 16.3 out of 25 with a range of 13-23. The Tourettes group scored an average of 20.4 with a range of 16-25. The ‘normal’ group…

  6. Identify the IV and the DV in the Eyes Task [2] • The independent variable is their diagnosis, whether they were diagnosed as autistic, Tourettes, or had no diagnosis. • The dependent variable is performance, measured by their scores out of 25 on the Eyes Task. The higher the score the better their Theory of Mind.

  7. Explain why this study is considered a quasi-experiment [2] • A quasi-experiment is one in which the independent variable is naturally-occurring. In this study the IV is the participants’ diagnosis as autistic, Tourettes, or ‘normal.’

  8. Identify the two control groups used [2] • Control groups are used to rule out confounding variables and/or provide a baseline for comparison. One control group was the ‘normal’ group which had 50 participants with no history of psychiatric disorder and were of normal intelligence. The other control group was 10 adult patients with Tourettes, also age matched and also of normal intelligence.

  9. Explain why one of these control groups was used [2] • The Tourettes group was used as a control because of the similarities between autism and Tourettes. Both are developmental disorders experienced since childhood that disrupt normal schooling and normal peer relations. Both have a genetic basis and are associated with abnormalities in the frontal region of the brain. This similarity allowed them to compare the groups and see if lack of Theory of Mind is a result of having a developmental disorder or whether it is specific to autism.

  10. Describe one of the control tasks that was used [2] • Control tasks are used to rule out confounding variables and/or provide a baseline for comparison. One such task in this study was the gender recognition task which involved identifying the gender of the 25 photos used in the Eyes Task. This task does not involve mind reading but does involve face perception, perceptual discrimination, and/or social discrimination.

  11. Outline the findings from this control task [2] • Only group 1 (autism group) was tested on this control task and they performed normally, successfully identifying the gender from the eyes region only.

  12. Explain what is meant by the term ‘ecological validity’ [2] • Ecological validity is a type of external validity that refers to how well the findings from a study can be generalised to real-life, based on an evaluation of the study setting and the study task. In this study the evaluation would be based around how much doing the Eyes Task, Strange Stories task and two control tasks at home or in a clinic or in a university lab mirrors what participants could expect to encounter and do in real-life.

  13. Explain in what way the study may be described as lacking ecological validity [2] • One way in which this study may be said to be lacking in ecological validity is to do with the Eyes Task. It is unusual to be asked to choose a mental state from two options given that is being shown in a black and white photo of the eyes region. In real-life one would see the whole face, it would be in colour, it would be moving and you would have some context for what may have caused that mental state.

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