Development of Social Cognition Flashcards
What is meta-representation?
The difference to separate fantasy from reality like in pretend play. Also, the ability to differentiate how an object looks in a photo and in real life
What is implicit and explicit knowledge?
Explicit: clearly stated
Implicit: not directly stated, comes from an understanding of what is meant/suggested
What is a false belief? What is an example of this?
the wrongly held belief that something is true
e.g. sally and anne task
What is the representational stage in the theory of mind?
The ability to know when someone is wrong and understand that they made that mistake because they were relying on false knowledge
What is the belief desire stage in theory of mind?
Ability to acknowledge that desires and beliefs are different
You can have both. When the belief matches the desires, then the desires can be achieved. e.g. boy wants to ride the bike (desire) and he may also have the belief he is allowed to ride the bike
What is theory of mind?
An individual has ToM when impute mental states to themselves or others
Mental states include beliefs, desires, imagination, emotions
What did the study by Woodward 1998? In regards to the actor reaching for the toys of a bear and ball
By 6 months, infants understand that people have goals
Curtained stage, shown 2 objects side by side, one bear and one ball. The infants would habituate watching the actor reach for the ball. Then the objects switched, and either the direction of the actor’s arm changed or the toy they picked up changed.
At what age can infants discriminate between intentional and accidental actions? How was this measured?
14 to 18 month infants can discriminate between intentional and accidental actions
Imitated almost twice as many of the adult’s intentional actions (marked vocally by there) as the accidental ones (woops)
What did the Study by Meltzoff 1995 show? In regards to children imitating adults and mechanical devices
By 18 months…
Experiment 1: children were shown adults who had tried and failed to perform target acts. Children weren’t shown the completed target act. There was an alternative group where children saw the full act.
Results show children could infer the adult’s intended act by watching the failed attempts.
Experiment 2: mechanical device followed the same movements the human had. Children didn’t produce target acts in this case.
What did the study by Repacholi and Gopnik 1997 find? What were the ages for this? In regards to the child acknowledging the preference of an adult
2 bowls, one with broccoli and one with crackers
Researcher showed their love for the broccoli bowl. Researcher would then ask the child to give them what they liked the most. The child would give the researcher the broccoli despite the child preferring the crackers
At 14 months, gave what they preferred. At 18 months, gave what others preferred
What is level 1 in perspective taking? What happens at 12, 18 and 24 months?
Level 1 is perspective taking, which involves other people have different views. e.g. you and I see different things
By 18 months, children will fit their perspective to yours. e.g. crawl around barrier to see what you’re looking at
They can also notice that others knowledge doesn’t always match their own. At 24 months, point to hidden objects and at 12 months, point to fallen objects
What is level 2 in perspective taking?
Level 2 perspective taking: you and I see the same things in a different way
What is Piaget’s 3 mountains task?
3 mountains and pictures of how these mountains look in different perspectives. Child has to match photo with each perspective
What is the policeman version of the 3 mountains task?
Brick wall. Starts off with one policeman and then becomes 2. Another character which isn’t a policeman. The child has to put this character in a place where neither policeman can spot it
What is first order ToM? How can this be measured using words?
First order: attributing beliefs
Observe and measure terms referring to desires or beliefs e.g. desire terms: want, like, belief terms: know, remember
What is the smarties task? What were the results in children?
Smarties box. Researcher asks child what is inside the box. The child says smarties. When the box is opened, there are pencils inside. When the researcher asks what the child saw in the box, they say pencils. The researcher then asks what other children will expect to see in the box, and the child says pencils
What did Clements and Porter 1994 find? Was the task implicit or explicit? What age was the result found?
Considered ToM as an implicit concept (non-conscious) rather than explicit (conscious)
Measured where the child looked rather than relying on verbal answers
At 3 and a half years, children looked at the box, showing they understand the implicit task
What did Onishi and Baillergeon 2005 study on watermelons find? What was the procedure? What were the results? At what age? What is the violation of expectation?
Watermelon and 2 boxes. Researcher would put watermelon in one box and take it back out the same box. Infants became familiarised with this.
4 conditions. In the first 2 conditions, researcher watched the watermelon slide from one box to another from where they initially had placed the watermelon. True belief task. In the last 2 conditions, the researcher hadn’t watched the watermelon slide between boxes. This is a false belief task.
Violation of expectation: 15 month olds looked longer at box which didn’t coincide with the agent’s false beliefs.
At what age do children start helping others with tasks? What skills do children need for this?
From 12 months child help others with tasks and problems
Child must understand what the focus of the task is and make judgements about the intentions of others
Shows ToM
Do autistic people have ToM?
Little to no eye contact
Language delays
Narrow interests
Less likely to engage in play, fewer friendships
Struggle to distinguish between what’s real and imagination
What is second order theory of mind? What age does it appear?
Attributes beliefs about beliefs
Allows us to understand jokes and sarcasm
Deception
Appears about 6 to 8 years
What did the study by Buttlelman, Carpenter and Tomasello 2009? In regards to children helping adults with toys in boxes
Box of blocks, which the children have been familiarised with. When the researcher reached into the box and found a spoon, infants based their decision on whether to give the researcher the spoon or blocks based on the researchers true or false belief about what was contained in the box
What happens in the Salley and Anne task?
Sally has a red ball. Puts her ball in a basket. When Sally leaves, Anne takes the ball out of the basket, and puts it in a box. Then Sally comes back. The researcher asks the child where they think Sally will look for her red ball.
What is a true belief?
Participants witness the movement of an object
