How to read ‘Reading the Mind in the Eyes’

Abstract

Reading the Mind in the Eyes is a psychometric test first published by Simon Baron-Cohen and colleagues in 1997 and revised in 2001. It was designed to measure subjects' ‘mentalizing’ ability, or their capacity to attribute cognitive and emotional states to others. Although originally developed and used for autistic adults, this instrument has proven remarkably durable in the succeeding two decades. This is notable for several reasons. The instrument itself is a historical artefact composed of cropped photographs from 1990s-era commercial magazines. Researchers have also noted that it may measure emotional vocabulary better than emotion recognition. In the decades following its publication, the theory underpinning the test, that autistics lack components of the ability to empathize, has been critiqued both by autism researchers and by autistics themselves. Despite these potential shortcomings, researchers in numerous fields have used it to assess a broad range of diagnostically defined groups, including those with substance use disorders, eating disorders and personality and neurodevelopmental disorders. Indeed, it is cited far more frequently now than it was in the decade following its publication. This essay considers how this instrument defines autism as a particular type of disability, and how the capacities purportedly associated with the ability to read minds through eyes are then used to characterize a range of human differences.