Lecture 2 Flashcards
what is theory of mind
the insight that other people hold mental states that govern behaviour
what does theory of mind allow us to do
make sense of the social world, and to predict / explain people’s actions
do children know that other people may have desires that differ from theirs?
yes, from the age of 18 months, but not 14 months
repacholi & gopnik
this shows that they understand that desire is a subjective mental state that differs from person to person
how can we tell whether a child has theory of mind
by using a false belief task
why is a false belief task more important than a true belief task
it tests whether a child can represent what another person believes
how many false-belief tasks are there
unexpected transfer test
deceptive box test
sally-ann test
what is the unexpected transfer (maxi test) method
maxi puts choculate in cupboard, chocolate is then moved by mum. maxi comes back and looks for his chocolate. 3 questions are asked
where will maxi look
where did maxi put the chocolate
where did mum put the chocolate
what did the maxi test method find?
5 and older say the cupboard
under 5 say fridge
what is the sally-ann task
the same as the maxi test performed by
baron-cohen et al
what is the deceptive box test
perner et al created method:
what is inside this tube (child guesses)
what is in it (child looks)
what will your friend think is in it (child predicts)
what did the deceptive box test find
3-4 year olds found it difficult acknowledging false-belief in others and their own prior false belief before opening the box
what did wellman, cross & watson find regarding development
younger than 3.5 below chance of passing false belief test, older than 4 above chance
what did wellman, cross & watson find regarding task variables
no difference when changing type of task, nature of protagonist, type of object
deceptive motive, active participation and salience of mental state improved performance
what did wellman, cross & watson conclude
manipulating variables improves performance across all ages
no variable manipulation improved performance of 3 year olds
what did callaghan et al find
children living in industrial societies and rural societies have similar development between 3-5
what two factors contribute to ToM development
social experience - interaction with other people
biological maturation - arising from improvement in executive functioning
what did harris find regarding the role of experience in ToM development
conversations are crucial for exposing children to other perspectives
they provide children with the vocab needed to discuss and reflect on mental states
what did perner et al find regarding the role of experience in ToM development
children with siblings show earlier signs of ToM
what did dunn et al find regarding the role of experience in ToM development
children whose parents talk about mental states more understood false belief earlier than others
what did peterson & siegel find regarding the role of experience in ToM development
deaf children of hearing parents show developmental lag on false belief tasks
deaf children of signing parents comparable with normal children
what are the 5 points on wellman & liu’s ToM scale
diverse desires: people have different desires for same thing
diverse beliefs: people have diff beliefs for same situation
knowledge access: something can be true & someone might not know that
false belief: something can be true but someone might falsely believe something different
hidden emotion: someone can feel one way but show something else
what did wellmen et al find regarding cultural differences with the ToM scale
western children learned:
DD>DB>KA>FB>HE
iran & china children learned:
DD>KA>DB>FB>HE
what is executive function
domain-general cognitive abilities that help us to control and guide our attention / behaviour
inhibition, cognitive flexibility, working memory
what is the role of executive functioning in ToM development
children’s failures may also be a result of problems translating conceptual knowledge to successful action
what is inhibition in relation to executive functioning
ignoring distracting information / suppressing unwanted responses
ignoring phone when working
what is cognitive flexibility in relation to executive functioning
responding to the same thing in different ways depending on the context
multiple passwords, pressing up or down in a lift
what is working memory in relation to executive functioning
holding important info or your “goal” in mind, and manipulating info in your head
mental arithmetic / shopping list
what is the biological constraint on executive functioning?
the frontal lobes are v important for it and they take a long time to develop
what did diamond & taylor find in relation to inhibitory control development
important developments take place in the first 6 years of life, with marked improvement between 3 and 6
what is the role of executive function in false belief tasks
there is a strong positive correlation between inhibitory control and false belief performance
what are the two levels of knowledge
explicit - info easily accessible to child, measured via verbal answer
implicit - info child unaware of, measured via spontaneous reponse
what did moll et al find in relation to implicit understanding of false beliefs
3 year olds express knowledge of another’s belief through finding greater expressed tension in the false belief condition compared to the true belief condition
what did clements & perner find in relation to implicit understanding of false beliefs
86% of children over 2y11m showed looking patterns indicative of FB understanding
suggests that children develop unconscious understanding of FB at an earlier age than they develop an explicit understanding
what is a looking time study
familiarise infant with event
present test behaviour either consistent / inconsistent with prior event
if infant looks longer at inconsistent event, evidence that they are surprised
what did onishi & baillargeon’s looking time study find
significantly longer looking time when expectation is violated with 15m/o
suggests 15m/o have FB understanding
what is apperly & butterfill’s dual process model
people have 2 systems that can compute beliefs of others
1st is fast & efficient but error prone
2nd is slow & cognitively demanding but reliable
