Theory of mind

• Theory of Mind


  The ability to attribute (unobservable) mental states - such as beliefs, desires, and knowledge to oneself and to others
• Theory of Mind


  The understanding that other people's mental states can be different to yours
• Theory of Mind


  • Important as it provides ability to predict + interpret behavior of others
  • During infancy + early childhood, children learn early skills that they'll need to develop their theory of mind later on, such as paying attention to people + copying them
  • As humans we assume that others want, think, believe + like, and thereby infer states that are not directly observable, using these states anticipatorily, to predict behavior of others as well as our own
  • These inferences, which amount to a theory of mind, are to our knowledge, universal in human adults
• How theory of mind develops

  1. We aren't born immediately knowing that others have unique beliefs + desires that are unique from our own

  2. There are several developmental precursors (or skills) that infants need to develop their theory of mind later on

  3. These skills include ability to comprehend concept of attention, understand intentions of others, + ability to imitate others must be achieved before reaching platform of theory of mind

  4. Other developmental precursors necessary for theory of mind to develop include (i) pretending to be someone else (like a doctor or a cashier); (ii) understanding causes + consequences of emotions; + (iii) understanding people who have different likes/dislikes
• Paying attention to other people

  • Attention is 1 of 1st underlying precursors to development of a fully-fledged theory of mind
  • Involves recognizing that seeing is not merely looking; rather, we can selectively direct our attention to specific objects + people
  • A key example of this attention is joint attention
  • Joint attention occurs when 2 people direct their attention towards same thing of interest – often done via pointing so as to direct another's attention to same source
  • When infants understand this gesture, they are simultaneously processing another person's mental state, recognizing that this object is something that another person thinks is of interest thus illustrating beginning phases of theory of mind
• Intentionality


  Understanding that others' actions are goal-directed + arise out of unique beliefs + desires
• Toddlers as young as 2 years old exhibit an understanding of intentionality as do chimpanzees + orangutans
• Imitation


  The ability to imitate others is to recognize recognizing that others have their own beliefs + desires
• A 2000 longitudinal study found that infants' imitation scores were not associated with later theory of mind ability
• How can we test theory of mind?

  1. False-belief task

  2. Sally-Anne task
• False-belief task


  A traditional test for theory of mind used in child development research to assess a child's understanding that other people can have beliefs about world which are not true
• First-order false-belief tasks


  • Assess realization that it is possible to hold false-beliefs about real events in world
  • Example is "Unexpected contents", or "Smarties" task where children predict another child's perception of contents of a box
• Second-order false-belief tasks


  • Require the child to determine what 1 character in a pictured scenario thinks regarding another character's beliefs
  • Passing this task demonstrates realization that it is possible to hold a false-belief about someone else's belief
  • A commonly used second-order false-belief task is Sally-Anne task
• The Sally-Anne task


  • The child who is being tested sits at a table on which 2 dolls (Anne and Sally) are positioned facing lidded containers (a box and a basket)
  • Sally 1st places a marble into her basket + then leaves scene
  • Anne then enters, takes marble out of basket, + places it into a closed box
  • Experimenter then asks participant where Sally will look for marble
• Autism


  Many researchers and psychologists believe that people with autism may not have theory of mind and therefore struggle to understand the mental states of those around them

  
• Autism, or autism spectrum disorder (ASD), refers to a broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication