Baron and Cohen

Background - Autistic individuals are diagnosed with the 'Triad of Impairments': Difficulty with social interactions, difficulty with verbal and non- verbal communication and a lack of imagination.

Austistic people lack the theory of mind.

Aims:

1. Adults with austism and AS with be impaired on the theory of mind tests.
2. Within the 'normal population' females will do better than normal males.

Method:

• Quasi experiment
• Independent-measures design
• Self-report measures

Variables:

IV = Whether the participant has autism or not.

DV= Correct responses to tests / how well the participants do.

Groups:

1. High-functioning volunteer autistic participants ( 13 male, 3 female)
2. Normal participants (25 females, 25 males) - Control group
3. Tourette's participants (8 male, 2 female)

Controls:

Control group is controlled because of their age and IQ. Also to control extraneous and confounding variables.

Procedure: ( did four tasks to decrease order effects )

1. Eye's task - 25 different faces only shown…