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What is theory of mind?
Our personal understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling- sometimes called ‘mine reading’
What are the different methods used to study ToM at different points in development?
The emergence of simple ToM can be seen in toddlers using intentional reasoning research
More sophisticated level of ToM can be assessed in 3-4 y/os using false belief tasks
In older children and adults advanced ToM has been tested using eye tasks (participants judge complex emotions with minimal info about facial expressions
What was the study that Andrew Meltzoff (1988) conducted for intentional reasoning in toddlers?
provided convincing evidence to show that toddlers (around 18 months) have an understanding of adult intentions when carrying out simple actions
Children of 18 months observed adults place beads into a jar- experimental conditions- the adults appeared to struggle with this and dropped the beads, control condition- the adults placed the beads successfully into the jar
In both conditions the toddlers placed the beads in the jar; they dropped no more beads in the experimental condition
Suggests they were imitating what the adult intended to do- this kind of research shows that very young children have a simple ToM
What are false belief tasks?
Developed in order to test whether children can understand that people can believe something that isn’t true
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