tom, selman and mirro neurons podcast

What is social cognition

the role of thinking in our behaviour with others

What are the two levels of perspective taking

- physical perspective taking

- psychological perspective taking

What is physical perspective taking

Research into the physical perception of things, eg piajet's egocentrism research

What is psychological perspective taking

The idea that when a child takes a differnet perspective they start to understand how differently people think and feel

What was selman's research into psychological perspective taking

Asked children a series of dilemnas that would explore children's reasoning skills, in these dilemnas they were forced to take another perspective, the holly dilemna

What is selmans stage 0 of development

Undifferentiated perspective taking, egocentrism

What age is stage 0

3-6 years

What can children not do in stage 0

cannot distinguish between their own emotions and those of others, Do not understand what social behaviour causes peoples emotions. Eg if they feel something is right then everyone should think so to

Selman Stage 1 of development

Social informational perspective taking

What age is stage 1

6-8 years

What are children in stage 1 able to do

Can now tell the difference between their own point of view and that of others, but they can only focus on one other perspective, they can understand theirs and others, but not simutaneuosly

Selmans Stage 2 of development

Self reflective perspective taking

What age is stage 2

8-10

What can a child do in stage 2

Can put themselves in the position of someone else and understand others can do the same, empathy

Selman stage 3 of development

Mutual perspective taking

What age is stage 3

10-12 years

What can children in stage 3 do

Can see two or more perspectives, for example if two people were in an arguement they can see from both perspectives as an impartial person

Selmans stage 4 of development

Societal perspective taking

Stage 4 ages

12-15+ years

what can stage 4 children do

Understand that seeing others viewpoints is not enough to reach agreement, personal decisions are now made with reference to laws ect.

What is a strength of Selman's research?

Selman conducted solid evidence that perspective taking improves with age stages.

What was selmans research sample

225 participants ranging from 4.5 to 32 years old

What did selman find

that when he reinterviewed 48 of the boys 2 years later they had improved perspective taking and none had regressed

Why is Selmans stages important in understanding social cognition

Because perspective taking is key in positive social behaviours. Selman found that children with poor perspective taking skills have more difficulty formilf relationships.

what did Fittzgerald and white find about the importance of perspective taking skills

The better the perspective taking the better the social behaviour and more negatively related to agression

How has selmans theory been positively applied , 3 benefits

• schools improving activities and play that encourage children to take perspectives

• social skill training given to older children to help improve disorders

• Criminals can lack empathy and perspective taking, so SST has been used to increase empathy in criminals

What does the term theory of mind mean

An individual's understanding that other people have different mental states (emotions) and see the world from another perspective

What does the term Autism- autistic spectrum mean

The spectrum which individuals have impairments with interaction, social communication and sensory sensitivity

What does the term Sally-anne studies mean

A story about two dolls, the doll (sally) doesn't know the marble in front of her has moved but the audience does

To have ToM means...

That we understand what is in someone elses mind and can see from their perspective

What do we have to remember about TOM

that it is not a Psychological theory, more of an understanding

where have we seen ToM in attachment

Meltzoff and moore found that newborns would imitate facial expressions, Suggesting they can see from another perspective (ToM)

How does ToM relate to Autism

A key arguement is that Children with ASD (autism) find it hard to see from anothers perspective, dont have ToM

What was the false belief task testing , Heinz Wimmer and Josef Perner

They were looking to see the age at which children can see from a perspective that doesn't know something they do, eg in romeo and juliet we know that juliet is not dead but romeo doesn't, however we can see from his perspective that he is upset because he thinks differently.

What was Wimmer and Perners procedure

Maxi's mother had brought home some chocolate to make a cake. Maxi sees her put the chocolate in the blue cupboard. Then Maxi goes out to play. His mother uses the chocolate for the cake and puts it back in the green cupboard. When Maxi returns from playing, he wants some chocolate

What did Wimmer and Perner find

they found that all the 3 yr olds got the answer wrong and answered from their perspective and what they knew, that the chocolate is in the green cupboard whereas 4 yr olds onwards said the blue cupboard as they understood that maxi had a different perspective

What do these finding suggest

That from 4 yrs old childrens social cognition improves and ToM is developed

What was the Sally-Anne studies

A study that used the same type of false belief task to explain autism

What was the control group for this study

20 children with autism

14 children with downsyndrome

27 normal children

What were the findings

85% of the normal children and the down syndrome children answered the false belief question correctly suggesting ToM isn't linked to low intelligence, however only 20% of the autistic children answered correctly suggesting that a autism could be described as lack of ToM

What do these finding suggest (sally-anne)

Suggests that impairments in the ToM might be an explanation for Autism

What was the research into adults with autism

Baren Cohen conducted a study on adults with autism, the eyes task, adults were shown pictures of peoples eyes and asked what they were feeling

What was Cohens findings

adults on the autistic spectrum scored a mean score of 16.3 whereas normal adults with a mean score of 20.3.

What is a weakness of research into ToM

Issues with Validity, False beleifs tasks require more cognitive abilities than the ToM such as memory, hard for a 3 year old to remember the whole story . Alternative studies have shown that when 3 year olds are given memory aid they are able to hold false beliefs

What is a strength of ToM research

It is consistant with biological findings, as ToM shows to develop at a specific age it suggests there is a specific brain module that is responsable for the development of ToM

Who argued that biology may not be the sole reason for ToM

perner, he found that ToM appears earlier in children in larger families as they have to deal with more conflict resolution at a younger age

What is an issue of the research

The research shows that only SOME people with autism lack ToM ao causation is an issue, autistic children also are prevented from communicating and engaging, could be the lack of experience which leads to lack of ToM not ToM causing their bad social interation

What is another potential strength of Cohens research

has applied to the Autism spectrum and how they have different experiences compared to normal people,

What are Mirror neurons

neurons that are activated both when we perform an action and when we observe someone else perform the same action

What is likely that mirror neurons are involved with

the social cognitive processes of empathy, perspective taking and Theory of Mind

Who discovered mirror neurons

Rizzolatti (accidentally)

How did they discover this accidentally

They were recording neural activity in the motor cortex of monkeys using electrodes and noticed that when one of the researchers reached for food the monkeys motor cortex reacted the same as when he reached for food

What did further investigation into this suggest

The brain cells that fired when the monkey reached for food were the same when the monkey watched someone else reach for food

What has mirror neurons helped to explain

how individuals imitate one another, for example in meltzoff and moores baby study

Why is this understanding of imitation important

Because imitation is how individuals pick up skills, for example building is aquired by imitating the teacher

What else did they find about mirror neurons

That they don't just imitate activity but they represent intentions in humans, what a person intends to do

Who studied mirror neurons and intentions

lacoboni

What was the method of research into mirror neurons

The researchers used fMRI to examine 23 participants as they watched videos of a hand picking up a teacup.

What were the different conditions

Condition 1 - teacup sat on a table amid a pot ,assumed the hand was grasping the cup to take a sip.

Condition 2 - table was messy and scattered with crumbs , a sign that the party was over and the handwas clearing the table

Condition 3 (control condtion )- In a third video the cup was alone, removed from any context.

What did they find

found that the mirror neurons in the premotor cortex reacted more strongly in the context conditions than the contextless condition

What did these findings suggest

That mirror neurons are not just interested in motion but also the context behind that motion

What did Gallese and goldman suggest memory neurons do

They enable us to experience someones actions like they are our own, empathy and tom

What is a strength of the mirror neuron system

Research support, Helene Haker (2012) demonstrated that an area of the brain believed to be rich in mirror neurons is involved in contagious yawning, using an fMRI while pps watched a video of people yawning,

what did helene haker find

When pps yawned there was higher activity in the broddmans area in the frontal lobe

How has mirror neuron research been applied to gender differences

Cheung recorded EEG activity while men and women watched either a moving dot or hand actions. Hand actions should stimulate mirror neurons. Females showed a significantly stronger response than males with the hand action. suggesting a biological difference in empathy not just social

How has this research been applied to ASD

Dapretto used brain scanning techniques to observe autistic and non autistic children when watching a face of different emotions. Autistic pps had less activity in the inferior frontal gyrus

why is mirror neuron research reliable

it has scientific evidence through the use of lab experiments

Can Mirror neurons explain human evolution

Ramacgandran suggested that mriror neurons are so impotant as they allow complex social interaction meaning we are able to live in big groups, suggests this has led to quicker development then if we all lived on our own. Suggesting that Mirror neurons have shaped our quick human evolution