theory of mind

• theory of mind

  -personal understanding of what others think/feel/know

  -likened to mind-reading

  -develops at age 4

  -lying demonstrates theory of mind as people see what others know etc. Tested through false-belief tasks
• Wimmer & Perner (1983) - not on spec

  -scenario: Maxi's mum has chocolate to make cake and puts this in the blue cupboard. Maxi goes outside to play, the mum uses the chocolate then puts it in the green cupboard. Ppts are asked which cupboard Maxi will go in to get the chocolate.

  -3y/o = green cupboard (ToM defecit)

  -4y/o = blue cupboard, most of the time (have ToM)

  -6y/o = blue cupboard (all children have ToM)

  -shows children develop ToM
• explanation of autism

  -one typical characteristic of autism is struggling with social cognition

  -they struggle to see from others POVs & their feelings

  -a ToM deficit explains this characteristic
• Baron-Cohen: Sally-Anne task

  -to see if a ToM deficit explains autism

  -used standardised procedures

  -3 groups: neurotypical; autistic & down-syndrome

  -one doll (Sally) put a block in a box, the other doll (Anne) went to play then Sally moved the block to a basket. Ppts were then asked which item Anne would say the block was in

  -20% of autistic children passed, compared to 85% of neurotypical & 86% of down-syndrome

  -ToM deficit explains autism

  -HOWEVER, autistic adults succeeded on the ToM task. Challenges it as an explanation of autism
• Baron-Cohen: eye task

  -a more sophisticated way of measuring ToM

  -ppts would have to look at eyes and determine the emotions these eyes showed

  -autistic people scored lower than neurotypical people (mean score of 16.3 for autistic people)

  -supports ToM as an explanation of autism
• AO3

  Strength(s):

  -real world application - tests that assess ToM are hard for people with autism to succeed in as some autistic people struggle to see what others think/feel. Explains why some autistic people struggle with social interactions. Often assume that neurotypical people can read others. D: ToM is not a complete explanation. Not all autistic people have ToM issues & these issues are not limited to autism. May have other factors involved. ToM & autism isn't strong. Lacks validity.

  
  

  Weakness(es):

  -use of false-belief tasks lack validity. Many studies have used the Sally-Anne task. Bloom & German (2000): false-belief tasks need other cognitive abilities e.g., visual memory. Could have a memory deficit if they fail. F-B tasks might not measure ToM. Lack validity.

  -research techniques didn't distinguish ToM from perspective-taking. P-T & ToM are related but are different cognitive abilities. Hard to tell which one is being measured. Example: Sally-Anne task, children may have been switching between the perspective of Sally & Anne. Decreases validity as it might not have been measuring ToM (apart from eye task).