Theory of Mind

What is theory of mind?

Having an understanding of other ppl as ppl who have desires, beliefs and their own interpretation of the world. (Smith et al, 2011,

Why is this a theory?

“Mind” is a theoretical construct; we can only infer ppl’s mental states from their bv

It is a construct that allows us to understand (theorise about) other ppl’s bv

What do we understand? (4)

we have emotions and desires which are linked

we have kn, beleifs, metacognition (e.g. i forget numbers unless i write them down)

an object in mind is not the same as a real one

our minds determine how we behave

What did Harris sugg for how cdr dvlp a TOM?

Understanding other people results from understanding yourself in their position which req 3 skills

What are the 3 skills harris mentions?

1)Self-awareness: emerges ~18-20 mo. - child becomes aware of own mental state

2) Capacity for pretence: pretend play emerges by age 2yrs

3) Ability to distinguish real from pretend: Stable by 3-4yrs. b4 this, child not always sure if others are pretending or not

What does child develop during the cap for pretence?

the ability to project their mental states onto inanimate objects (symbolic play) and other people

What does the child develop when they get the ability to distinguish real from pretend?

realisation that the imagined mental state of   other people can differ from their own mental state

What does a child acq acc to Harris?

the ability to generate hypotheses about other ppl’s emotions, desires & beliefs

Child can work out other’s likely bv by simulation – hypothetically putting themselves in other’s position

How can awareness of self dvlp?

through visual recognition

What did Lewis and Brooks-gunn do?

placed cdr in front of mirror where mum wipes childs nose

cdr less than 15m smile but dont touch nose

most children more than 18m touch nose

What may expl Lewis and Brooks-Gunn work?

Contingency cues (mirror image moves with self-produced motion)

Feature cues (stable facial & bodily features)

What did Lewis and Brooks gunn find about recognition of self?

Recognition of self develops gradually over first 2yrs of life

Early recognition uses contingency cues (prefer self on live video)

Can use feature cues only >~15mo (prefer pic of self to other child)

What did Povinelli do?

showed cdr videos of them with a sticker on head but only cdr more than 3yo reached for sticker

Suggests young cdr not realise self in the past is still the self.

Suggests awareness of continued existence of self is limited b4 age 3-4

What can cdr around 2yrs do?

Use words relating to the self: ‘I’,’me’, and own name

Can correctly reverse ‘I’ and ‘you’ when listening to others

Sugg that self-concept is quite well formed when these lang dvlpments occur

How does self awareness not emerge?

in an all or none way, over time it dvlps

What do contigency cues give way to?

feature cues

What does understand the self provide?

a way to understand others

Evidence for this link: 1) Empathy & 2) deception

What did Bischof-Kohler do?

Examined rs bt Empathy

emerges around 20 mo

self-awareness & empathy in 16-24 months old and found strong corr

Empathy emerges around 20 mo

What does deception req?

the understanding that other people can have different beliefs from our own

What did Cole do?

have cdr rate list of 10 gifts and then given picture story tasks then given either best or worst gif

reactions recorded

Interviewer not present -  children show disappointment

Interviewer present – most hide disappointment with ‘half smile

What did cole’s work show?

 Deliberate intent to deceive.

What did Lewis et al do?

told cdr not to peek at surprise toy when leaving room

majority peaked and when exp returned, he asked if they did - 11 admitted, 11 denied, 7 didnt answer

peekers smiled more than non and showed most relaxed and smiling expressions

tf 3yr olds can engage in deliberate verbal and facial deception

What did Baron-Cohen do?

Sally-Ann tasks where there r 2 dolls

sally puts a ball in basket then leaves and anne hides that ball in a box

when sally returned, the question of where she’ll look for her ball was asked

What did Baron-Cohen find?

4yr olds: “Basket”

  Know Sally believes ball is in basket

3yr olds: “Box”

  Not understand Sally has a   belief   different from their own

What is the Smarties test?

Perner et al showed cdr and unopened smarties box with pencils inside and asked what their friends will think is in there

4yr olds: “smarties”

3yr olds: “pencils”

What did Gopnik and Astington do with the smarties task?

asked: “When you first saw the box, what did you think it contained?”

3yo: ‘pencils’ – not understand that they once had a different belief from current one

What do empathy, deception and false belief studies reveal?

limitations in understanding of mind before age 4

What do children less than 4yo understand abt the mind?

~2yrs: children use words referring to perception & emotion   (e.g. want, see, look)

~3yrs:words referring to cognition (e.g. know, think, remember)

What did Shatz et al do?

Shatz et al (1983): Examined 3yr old’s speech and concluded 3yr olds have ability to distinguish mental states from physical states, e.g.: “I thought it was an alligator. Now I know it’s a crocodile”.

What did Wellman and Estes do?

showed picture stories to 3yo, 2 characters; one has biscits, other is thinking abt one

3/4 of 3yr olds responses indicated they can distinguish between mental and physical states

Can children understand the link between seeing & knowing?

cdr begin to understand the rs around age 2yrs but understanding that diff ppl can have diff views of same object comes later

What did Lempers et al do?

Asked 2yo to show another person a picture glued inside a box

Cdr oriented the box so it was visible for other person and understood that ppl cannot see picture if eyes are covered

By 3yrs, realise if they hide an object, other people cannot see it.

What did Masangkay et al do?

Child shown double-sided picture card

Card placed so child & Experimenter see opposite sides of card

Asked child what they / Experimenter can see.

3yr olds respond correctly

What did Masangkay et al do?

had cdr view pic of turtle in profile and asked if they see turtle on its feet or upside down and the exp view

All ages correctly identified own view

3ys: only 1/3 correct for experimenter’s view

4yrs: understood each person has different view

What must cdr learn?

how physical states relate to mental states, but also how mental states relate to physical states: looks can be deceiving

What did Flavell and Green do?

encouraged cdr to play with sponges painted like rocks and asked what they look like

Most 4 & 5yr olds answered correctly

3yr olds said objects look like rocks and they are rocks

sugg 4-5yo, not 3yo, can simultaneously represent an object in terms of its appearance and what it is.

What do most cdr succeed on?

false belief tasks around 4-5yrs, but several factors affect performance

What did Lewis and Osborne do?

changed wording on Smarties task to: “What will your friend think is in the box before she opens the lid?”

Some 3yr olds now succeeded

What are cdr with delayed language skills delayed in?

false belief task

What are some deaf children delayed in?

false belief task

What did Lewuis et al do?

Measured children’s performance on false belief task

Collected data on children’s relationships

What do children who succeed on false belief task tend to do?

Interact more with adults

Have more older friends and siblings

sugg interaction with older people may allow cdr to develop TOM skills at younger age

What has been found to correlate with success on false belief task?

talking about thoughts & beliefs

What do cdr older than 4yo understand abt the mind?

understand others’ beliefs are not always true or same as own.

Major achievement, but theory of mind skills are not fully developed

What do the Sally Ann and Smarties tasks assess?

assess first-order beliefs:

  “I believe that person A believes X”

  “I think that Sally thinks her ball is in the basket”

What about second-order beliefs? (“I think that Ann thinks that Sally thinks her ball is in the basket)

When do cdr succeed on a second order belief task?

around age 6yrs

What does improving TOM skills aid?

deception

What did Peskin do in their sticker exp?

showed cdr 4 stickers and told they can have fave but 2 puppets choose first

5yo lied to mean puppet and 3/4yo told truth so lost sticker

repeated exp 4x - 5yo still lied, half of 4yo learnt to lie, 3yo not learn to lie despite sadness

sugg younger cdr not able to generate false belief in another person

What does Harris emphasise?

understanding of own emotions & projecting them onto others is basis for theory of mind

Projecting emotions onto others allows child to hypothesise about reasons for those emotions (i.e. beliefs & desires): ‘simulation’

What does simulation inv?

inv reasoning about situations that do not exist (called counterfactual reasoning)

Sugg the possibility that young cdr’s failure in false belief tasks may be due to limitations in reasoning abilities  

What may failure on false belief tasks be due to?

to reasoning limitation, not failure to understand mental representations 

What did Wellman emphasise?

development of representational ability as an important factor and sees TOM DV as passing through progressively more advanced stages of representational ability

What did Wellman say abt 2-4yo