Lecture 1: Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind

the ability to ascribe mental states to one’s self and others (Wellman, 2002)

What is crucial to understanding ToM?

understanding others and understanding our own minds: that our mental states can change

What does ToM lead to understanding?

mental states do not always accurately reflect reality; mental states can be the causes of behaviour of other people

What type of reasoning do we develop by the time we are adults?

all kinds of mental state reasoning

True or false: it is difficult to understand mental states

True

Why is it difficult to understand mental states?

information may be vague, incomplete, irrelevant; interpreting mental states can depend on background knowlegdge

What can we make judgements based on despite problems with information?

complex judgements even on scant information

How are interpretations of people’s mental states done?

quickly and intuitively

What game is demonstrative of ToM?

rock, paper, scissors

Novices pick ____ as their first move % of the time; experts do __% of the time.

scissors, 43%, 29%

Example of using ToM

recursive imagining in art auction using RPS

Nelson & Luciana, 2001

long before becoming fully linguistic, children orient to other humans

What do newborns orient towards?

human faces

6mo developmental milestone

follow other people’s gaze

What is following other’s gaze an example of?

using a socially relevant item (someone else’s face) to draw attention to something in the world

12mo developmental milestone

shared mutual gaze; protodeclarative pointing

Shared mutual gaze

looking from item of interest to caregiver

Protodeclarative pointing

pointing to item of interest

What did Woodward, 1998 study?

humans as goal - orientated agents

Woodward, 1998: Procedure

1. 9mo infants habituated to adult reaching to one of two toys

2. toys were swapped; infants either saw same reach to new toy, or new reach to same toy

Woodward, 1993: Findings

1. 9mo looked longer when adult reached to other toy even though this was same gesture they had habituated to

2. children didn’t show this pattern for non-human reaches e.g. mechanical claw

Woodward, 1998: Conclusions

1. infants seem to understand at some level that people act in intentional, goal directed ways

2. they take account of mental states when observing the actions of others

Tomasello et al., 1996: ToM and language learning

from 18mo (and maybe before) children use their mental state awareness to help them learn language

Tomasello et al., 1996: Study

1. Said “This is a modi” looking at an object ; and then said “Can you pass me the modi”

2. Children who saw adult look passed object

3. Children who didn’t see adult look didn’t pass

4. Children understand directed gaze shows desire

Repacholi & Gopnik’s perspective on children’s mental states

it is not true that children under 3yo have no explicit understanding of mental states; 18mo understand that other people may have different desires to themselves

Repacholi & Gopnik: Procedure

1. Researcher showed children broccoli and goldfish crackers, which children dislike and like respectively

2. She would model to the child that she didn’t enjoy crackers but did enjoy broccoli , very different behaviour to their own preferences

3. She then place her hand equidistant between the two and said “can you give me some”

Repacholi & Gopnik: Findings

1. When asked 18mo and 15mo to give her some, 15mo gave crackers and 18mo gave broccoli, even though they themselves stated they didn’t like broccoli 

2. 18mo gave her her preference

Repacholi & Gopnik: Conclusions

shows children aged 18mo are able to distinguish between what they want vs what others want

Bartsch & Wellman (1995): 2yo

2yo can explicitly and verbally contrast their desires vs others’ desires

Bartsch & Wellman (1995): 3yo

can spontaneously use words like think and know

What do children understand from infancy about other people?

may be driven by intentions: can gaze, share attention using reciprocal gaze following

Infant awareness of mental states

unlikely to be explicit; infants don’t have insight into mental statesW

What paradigm demonstrates that infants likely do not have explicit awareness of mental states?

when we see attention being violated in the paradigm with two objects, they do not have conceptual understanding; implicit

When does explicit mental state understanding emerge?

between 1-6yo

Why are mental states difficult for young children to understand?

they are:

1. insubstantial (can’t point to them)

2. frequently non-obvious (knowledge based)

3. rapidly changing (mood-swings)

4. dependent on real world knowledge

What is a useful heuristic for children?

extending their own knowledge to other people, especially as thoughts tend to correspond closely with others’

Age of onset of mental states: Emotions

understood in others by 12moA

Age of onset of mental states: Desires

18mo

Age of onset of mental states: Belief

4yo

Age of onset of mental states: Complex belief

6yo+

Theory Theory

early, simple views of ToM are revised due to new experiences and observations, locating the source of improvement in children’s knowledge.

What does theory theory fit with?