theory of mind

• understand

  • others thoughts, feelings and intentions
  • others can hold a false belief
• strength


  lack of TOM is a distinct characteristic of autism

  • sally-anne - controls + children with Down syndrome can pass a false belief task
• weakness

  sally-anne task may measure visual memory

  • lack validity
• weakness

  issues with eyes task

  • ecological validity
  • in real life you see peoples full faces
• theory of mind

  • allows us to understand/identify what other people are thinking and feeling
  • develops at about 3-4 years old
  • those with autism may have a defect in this
• testing it in toddlers (meltzoff, 1988)

  • 18 months attempt to put beans in a jar
  • control group were successful
  • experimental dropped the beads
• testing it in children with autism (baron-cohen et al) - Sally Anne task

  • 20 autistic children, 27 neurodivergent and 14 with down-syndrome
  • Sally puts marbles in her basket and walks away and Anne moves the marbles into her box
  • The children asked where Sally would look for her marbles
• Sally-Anne task : findings

  • 85% of control could successfully answer
  • only 25% with autism could
  • suggests that children with autism lack theory of mind
• weakness

  issues with validity

  • false belief requires the ability to perspective take and use visual memory
  • some can engage successfully in play but unsuccessful in false belief
  • therefore false belief doesn't assess TOM
• strength

  real world application

  • people with autism have difficulty understanding intentions of others (struggle with false belief)
  • explains why those with autism may struggle with social interaction
  • HOWEVER - other factors with autism and might not struggle with TOM