Psychologists

Simon Baron-Cohen

Citation Formats

General Reference

Psychology Atlas. "Simon Baron-Cohen." Accessed August 29, 2026. https://dev-psychology.interactiveatlas.org/psychologists/simon-baron-cohen.

APA Style

Psychology Atlas. (n.d.). Simon Baron-Cohen. Retrieved August 29, 2026, from https://dev-psychology.interactiveatlas.org/psychologists/simon-baron-cohen

BibTeX

@misc{psychologyatlas-simon-baron-cohen,
  author = {Psychology Atlas},
  title = {Simon Baron-Cohen},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://dev-psychology.interactiveatlas.org/psychologists/simon-baron-cohen},
  note = {Accessed August 29, 2026}
}

British clinical psychologist and Professor of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Cambridge, where he directs the Autism Research Centre. In a 1985 paper with Alan Leslie and Uta Frith, Baron-Cohen used the Sally-Anne false-belief test to show that autistic children, independent of general mental ability, had specific difficulty attributing false beliefs to others, a founding result for the theory-of-mind account of autism. He later developed the empathizing-systemizing theory of autism and helped design widely used autism screening and diagnostic instruments, including the Autism Spectrum Quotient.

Facts

Birth Yearthe subject's own account

1958 1

Nationality / Culturethe subject's own account

British 1

Defining Contributionthe subject's own account

The Sally-Anne test and the theory-of-mind account of autism, later extended into the empathizing-systemizing theory. 1

Notable Workthe subject's own account

Does the Autistic Child Have a Theory of Mind? (1985, with Leslie and Frith) 1

Cross-Tradition Connections