psy 210: exam 3 chapter 8

naive psychology

commonsense level of psychogical understanding of other people and oneself

3 concepts used to understand human behavior

1. desires

2. beliefs

3. actions

3 important properties of native psychological concepts:

1. many refer to invisible mental states

2. linked to one another in cause-effect relations

3. develop surprisingly early

   • however, exactly how early is still hotly debated

theory of mind

an organized understanding of how mental processes such as intentions, desires, beliefs, perceptions, and emotions influence behavior

describe method, findings, and interpretation of woodward, 1998 study

describe method, findings, and interpretation of repacholi & gopnik 1997 study

describe the development of theory of mind beyond infancy (ages 1-3)

• by the end of the 1st year: understand the connection between people’s desires and actions

• by age 2: understand desires leads to actions

• by age 3: understand relation between beliefs and actions

however, 3 year olds have trouble with false-belief tasks

false belief task

tasks that test child’s understanding that other people will act in accord with their own beliefs even when the child knows that those beliefs are incorrect

describe the smarties task

describe the sally anne task

Theory of mind module (ToMM)

hypothesized brain mechanism devoted to understanding other human beings

evidence cited for improveent in ToMM

• specific areas of the brain are active in representing false beliefs and areas are different than those activated for other tasks (ex: grammar tasks)

• difficulties that children with autism spectrum disorder have on false-belief tasks

baron-cohen et al. 1985 study

• tested 12 year old children with autism, 11 year old children with down syndrome, 5 year old typically developing control children

• sally anne task used to measure false belief understanding

• theory of mind deficits were specific to children with autism, not due to deficits in IQ

what causes improvement in ToM from 3 to 5 yeaes?

• role of learning from experiences with physical situations and with other people

• interactions with other people

• growth of information-processing skills (counterfactual reasoning skills, executive function skills like inhibition)