Theory of Mind - PSYC 216

These flashcards cover key concepts and findings related to the Theory of Mind as presented in the lecture notes.

What is Theory of Mind?

An understanding that others have their own distinct mental states/processes.

What are some examples of mental states?

Preferences, goals, knowledge, beliefs, emotions.

Why is recognizing others' mental states important?

It helps us predict and understand others' actions and adapt our own mental states and behaviors.

What term is used to refer to any entity with control over its actions?

Agent.

What types of motivational states are there?

Preferences, desires, goals.

What is an epistemic state?

What the agent does or does not know.

What do counterfactual states refer to?

False information the agent believes.

What do emotional states encompass?

What the agent feels, such as happiness, sadness, fear, and relief.

At what age can infants attribute a preference to an agent?

Around 5-12 months.

What method was used in Woodward’s preference task?

Violation of Expectation (VOE) method.

What do infants expect an agent to do based on their attributed preferences?

They expect the agent to maintain and act on those preferences.

At what age do infants begin to attribute preferences for kinds of objects?

12 months.

What is the significance of the Detour Task in understanding goals?

It disentangles the goal from the means.

What was a key finding from the experimental condition of the Detour Task?

Infants identified circles as agents and attributed goals to them.

What did the results of the imitation task show about infant behavior?

Infants expect others to pursue their goals efficiently.

What are epistemic states related to?

What an agent knows or does not know.

What experiment demonstrated infants’ understanding of knowledge awareness?

Knowledge-Based Preference Task.

What key concept arises from the VOE-FB Task?

Infants recognize that others can hold counterfactual beliefs.

What is the false-belief task used for?

To assess whether children understand that others can hold false beliefs.

What was the result of the false-belief task for children under 4 years old?

They fail to recognize that Sally holds a false belief about the location of her marble.

Which study analyzed the developmental sequence of Theory of Mind tasks in children?

Wellman & Liu (2004).

In which order do children pass ToM tasks according to research?

Diverse Desires, Diverse Beliefs, Knowledge Access, Contents False-Belief, Location False-Belief, Belief Emotion, Real-Apparent Emotion.

Around what age do children begin to understand diverse desires?

Approximately 2.5 years.

What is a key conclusion about infant understanding of mental states?

Infants have an understanding of others’ mental states and use that understanding to form expectations.