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