LECTURE 5

Question 1

What is social cognition?

Answer 1

The mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses, relating to society or its organization.

Question 2

What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?

Answer 2

The ability to attribute mental states (knowledge, intentions, emotions) to others to explain, predict, and justify behavior.

Question 3

How does Theory of Mind help us?

Answer 3

It allows us to navigate social interactions, predict behaviors, and understand past events (retrodiction).

Question 4

What is retrodiction in ToM?

Answer 4

The ability to deduce what happened in the past to cause current mental states.

Question 5

What study explored people’s ability to retrodict others’ experiences?

Answer 5

Pillai, Sheppard, & Mitchell (2012) used videos of reactions to different scenarios and showed participants could deduce the eliciting events.

Question 6

What is the Sally-Anne test?

Answer 6

A test where children predict where a character will look for an object based on a false belief.

Question 7

At what age do children typically pass the Sally-Anne test?

Answer 7

Around 4 years old.

Question 8

What is epistemic perspective-taking?

Answer 8

Reasoning about beliefs, including recognizing justified false beliefs.

Question 9

What is conceptual perspective-taking?

Answer 9

Distinguishing between appearance and reality, such as recognizing a sponge rock as both sponge and appearing like a rock.

Question 10

What percentage of 3-year-olds can attribute false beliefs to others?

Answer 10

0%.

Question 11

What percentage of 4-year-olds can attribute false beliefs to others?

Answer 11

57%.

Question 12

What percentage of 6-9-year-olds can attribute false beliefs to others?

Answer 12

86%.

Question 13

How do children perform in the “pencil in the sweets tube” task?

Answer 13

3-year-olds often fail, saying “pencil”; 4-5-year-olds understand their prior belief was “sweets.”

Question 14

What study examined appearance-reality distinction using joke-shop objects?

Answer 14

Flavell, Flavell, and Green (1983) showed 4-5-year-olds understood appearance-reality differences better than 3-year-olds.

Question 15

When is full Theory of Mind thought to develop?

Answer 15

Around 4-4.5 years old.

Question 16

What is simulation theory?

Answer 16

The idea that we understand others by internally simulating their mental states.

Question 17

What is Theory Theory?

Answer 17

The idea that we understand others’ mental states using a model or theory of how minds work.

Question 18

What is egocentric bias in ToM?

Answer 18

The tendency to rely on one’s own knowledge when interpreting others’ perspectives.

Question 19

How does culture affect Theory of Mind abilities?

Answer 19

Collectivist cultures (e.g., Mediterranean) often excel at inferring others’ thoughts compared to individualistic cultures.

Question 20

How does family size affect ToM development?

Answer 20

Children with older siblings or larger families tend to perform better on ToM tasks due to exposure to diverse perspectives.

Question 21

What role do parents play in ToM development?

Answer 21

Parents who explain behavior using psychological states help children develop better ToM abilities.

Question 22

What characteristics of children influence ToM acquisition?

Answer 22

Temperament, interaction styles, and responsiveness to social input.

Question 23

How does autism affect ToM development?

Answer 23

Autism significantly constrains the ability to understand others’ mental states.

Question 24

What is implicit false belief understanding?

Answer 24

Early, non-verbal indicators of ToM, such as looking behavior in violation-of-expectation tasks.

Question 25

What did Onishi & Baillargeon (2005) find about 15-month-olds?

Answer 25

Infants looked longer when an actor searched in a location inconsistent with their belief.

Question 26

What did Buttelmann, Carpenter, & Tomasello (2009) demonstrate with 18-month-olds?

Answer 26

Infants differentiated between true and false belief conditions by helping appropriately.

Question 27

Why might ToM abilities emerge earlier in implicit tasks?

Answer 27

Implicit tasks require less verbal or explicit reasoning, highlighting early, non-verbal ToM abilities.

Question 28

What social factors shape ToM?

Answer 28

Culture, family interactions, and explanations of psychological states.

Question 29

How does having older siblings benefit ToM development?

Answer 29

Older siblings often provide exposure to diverse perspectives and explanations of behavior.

Question 30

What did Dunn et al. (1991) find about mothers’ interactions with toddlers?

Answer 30

Mothers who discussed psychological states raised children with better ToM abilities.

Question 31

What is the appearance-reality distinction?

Answer 31

The ability to differentiate between how things appear and what they really are

Question 32

What is a violation-of-expectation experiment?

Answer 32

An experiment where infants’ looking times indicate surprise at unexpected outcomes.

Question 33

What are some issues with ToM tests in children?

Answer 33

Binary responses, language comprehension challenges, and varying levels of linguistic ability can affect results.

Question 34

How do executive functions affect ToM in adults?

Answer 34

Tasks involving working memory or processing speed can influence ToM performance.

Question 35

What percentage of participants in Keysar et al. (2000) ignored the confederate’s perspective?

Answer 35

71% attempted to move an unseen object at least once.

Question 36

What is the “curse of knowledge” in ToM?

Answer 36

A tendency to let one’s own knowledge interfere with considering others’ perspectives.

Question 37

What is the main takeaway from social development studies?

Answer 37

Theory of Mind is influenced by both innate abilities and social/environmental factors throughout development.

Question 38

What is the relationship between linguistic ability and ToM?

Answer 38

Strong language skills correlate with better performance on ToM tasks.

Question 39

Why is Theory of Mind considered cognitively demanding?

Answer 39

It depends on working memory, language processing, and executive function.