Lecture 10 Flashcards
What is theory of mind
Ability to attribute mental states to others and the understanding that others may perceive things differently. There are levels of intentionality which are…
- I hope that
- Emma feels that
- Mark is surprised that
- Charlie fancies Daniel
- Who wants to live with Chloe
Why do we study theory of mind in evolution?
Some psychologists argue that ToM is a mental module (an evolved mechanism that you have a certain way of thinking that cannot be changed and is heritable), so it is mandatory and automatic.
We can try to understand how cognitive ability may constrain decision making, which can help us understand human behaviour.
ToM seems to be important for the evolution of language, culture and other human characteristics.
What do we already know about ToM?
It is developed from intentionality detector and eye-direction detector, which both contribute and equate to shared-attention mechanism and furthermore ToM (Baren-Cohen, 1995). From developmental psychology we know how and when it is developed and the cognitive and emotional processes involved. By the age of 4-5 children can pass the false belief task and are thought to have ToM, however some younger children can pass parts of the tasks (therefore it may not be a sudden modular function). Performance can also be improved by training and changing the tasks and Bloom & German argue that advanced language skills and memory are required to pass them. As well as this, a deficit in ToM is associated with social problems and disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.
What is meant by intentionality detector
People intentionally attribute characteristics to entities automatically, even if they don’t have the capability to have characteristics.
What is meant by eye-direction detector
The ability to see and understand where people are looking. Humans have this ability, but its harder in animals as they don’t have the whites of the eyes like humans thus its harder to see where their eyes are directed.
Discuss what Baron-Cohen (1995) found
That ToM is kind of modular. Early modular components are essential for development of ToM - eye direction detector, intentionality detector, social referencing emerges from these modules and so shared attention develops from ID and ED and ToM develops from this.
Define and discuss social referencing
Tendency of an infant, to analyze the facial expressions of a significant other in order to be able to determine what to do.
Russel, Bard & Adamson (1996), looked at social referencing in chimpanzees. When the caregiver would act in negative/positive way to a new toy and found when the caregiver gave a negative expression the chimp would withdraw, and the opposite for positive expressions. This shows that chimps have the ability to social reference, however the caregiver is human and this does not replicate a natural setting.
Discuss the relationship between social problems and deficits in ToM
Schizophrenia:
Fail to pass false belief tasks which may be related to socially inappropriate behaviour, paranoia, misinterpretation of social information.
Autism:
Fail to pass false belief tasks and dislike social interactions. As well as this, they have deficits in emotional processing. Some psychologists suggests autism is a result of a deficit of ToM. Leslie (1991) concludes that autism is a specific disorder relating to the failure of ToM. Baren-cohen argues that the attention to details rather than the wholes is evidence that autism represents an extreme form of maleness.
What function does ToM serve in normally functioning adults?
Social bonding - maintaining group size. There is a selection pressure for humans to act in a way that allows them to live in complex communities. Understanding eachother is therefore vital for maintaining social cohesion and group size. (Dunbar, 1993/1996). This leads to the fission-fusion society, where there are increased cognitive demands to keep track of friends and enemies (Barrett et al., 2004).
Discuss the levels of intentionality in everyday life
There is a limit on the amount of levels we can follow. Writers tend to be able to follow more because they have to understand it more to write about it.
Kinderman et al (1998) first attempted to explore how many levels of intentionality we can keep track of using stories concerning social interactions (some using mental states and some not). Participants could answer questions relating to 4 levels of intenionality, but had high error rates at 5 levels. There were no problems with 6th order causal sequences (without mental states). Therefore limitation lies specifically with mental states -thinking that others have thoughts is hard.
Do other primates have ToM?
Premack & Woodruff (1978) first coined the term ToM when studying chimpanzees, they showed them human tasks (a locked door, banana out of reach etc) and asked them to chose a photo of the appropriate response, and they performed well. However, this doesn’t necessarily test for ToM - it may be conditioning and modeling. Hare et al (2000) studied ToM between two chimpanzees and competition with food. They found good results, however again they were unable to conclude the results were because of ToM.
Are we happy with the definition of Theory of Mind?
It may be an outdated concept, which relies on dualism. It is based on many brain areas. Maybe levels of intentionality that can be understood show levels of theory of mind - so it is not modular.
What is the function of emotion?
- Emotion is a feeling state, which assists decision making and behaviour. The feeling of emotion directs your attention, and motivates your actions. It is an unconscious somatic response to environmental stimuli.
- Emotion is a behaviour, signalling emotions allows you to interact with others. Humans use the facial expressions of others to gain information about potential behaviour and relationships.
Discuss what Bloom and German (2000) concluded about false belief tasks
There is more to passing the false belief task than theory of mind. In many cases, A can predict the outcome of B without understanding their mental states but by simply understanding the state of the world (this may have been the case in Hare et al., 2000).
