LECTURE 5 Flashcards
What is social cognition?
The mental process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses, relating to society or its organization.
What is Theory of Mind (ToM)?
The ability to attribute mental states (knowledge, intentions, emotions) to others to explain, predict, and justify behavior.
How does Theory of Mind help us?
It allows us to navigate social interactions, predict behaviors, and understand past events (retrodiction).
What is retrodiction in ToM?
The ability to deduce what happened in the past to cause current mental states.
What study explored people’s ability to retrodict others’ experiences?
Pillai, Sheppard, & Mitchell (2012) used videos of reactions to different scenarios and showed participants could deduce the eliciting events.
What is the Sally-Anne test?
A test where children predict where a character will look for an object based on a false belief.
At what age do children typically pass the Sally-Anne test?
Around 4 years old.
What is epistemic perspective-taking?
Reasoning about beliefs, including recognizing justified false beliefs.
What is conceptual perspective-taking?
Distinguishing between appearance and reality, such as recognizing a sponge rock as both sponge and appearing like a rock.
What percentage of 3-year-olds can attribute false beliefs to others?
0%.
What percentage of 4-year-olds can attribute false beliefs to others?
57%.
What percentage of 6-9-year-olds can attribute false beliefs to others?
86%.
How do children perform in the “pencil in the sweets tube” task?
3-year-olds often fail, saying “pencil”; 4-5-year-olds understand their prior belief was “sweets.”
What study examined appearance-reality distinction using joke-shop objects?
Flavell, Flavell, and Green (1983) showed 4-5-year-olds understood appearance-reality differences better than 3-year-olds.
When is full Theory of Mind thought to develop?
Around 4-4.5 years old.
What is simulation theory?
The idea that we understand others by internally simulating their mental states.
What is Theory Theory?
The idea that we understand others’ mental states using a model or theory of how minds work.
What is egocentric bias in ToM?
The tendency to rely on one’s own knowledge when interpreting others’ perspectives.
How does culture affect Theory of Mind abilities?
Collectivist cultures (e.g., Mediterranean) often excel at inferring others’ thoughts compared to individualistic cultures.
How does family size affect ToM development?
Children with older siblings or larger families tend to perform better on ToM tasks due to exposure to diverse perspectives.
What role do parents play in ToM development?
Parents who explain behavior using psychological states help children develop better ToM abilities.
What characteristics of children influence ToM acquisition?
Temperament, interaction styles, and responsiveness to social input.
How does autism affect ToM development?
Autism significantly constrains the ability to understand others’ mental states.
What is implicit false belief understanding?
Early, non-verbal indicators of ToM, such as looking behavior in violation-of-expectation tasks.
What did Onishi & Baillargeon (2005) find about 15-month-olds?
Infants looked longer when an actor searched in a location inconsistent with their belief.
What did Buttelmann, Carpenter, & Tomasello (2009) demonstrate with 18-month-olds?
Infants differentiated between true and false belief conditions by helping appropriately.
Why might ToM abilities emerge earlier in implicit tasks?
Implicit tasks require less verbal or explicit reasoning, highlighting early, non-verbal ToM abilities.
What social factors shape ToM?
Culture, family interactions, and explanations of psychological states.
How does having older siblings benefit ToM development?
Older siblings often provide exposure to diverse perspectives and explanations of behavior.
What did Dunn et al. (1991) find about mothers’ interactions with toddlers?
Mothers who discussed psychological states raised children with better ToM abilities.
What is the appearance-reality distinction?
The ability to differentiate between how things appear and what they really are
What is a violation-of-expectation experiment?
An experiment where infants’ looking times indicate surprise at unexpected outcomes.
What are some issues with ToM tests in children?
Binary responses, language comprehension challenges, and varying levels of linguistic ability can affect results.
How do executive functions affect ToM in adults?
Tasks involving working memory or processing speed can influence ToM performance.
What percentage of participants in Keysar et al. (2000) ignored the confederate’s perspective?
71% attempted to move an unseen object at least once.
What is the “curse of knowledge” in ToM?
A tendency to let one’s own knowledge interfere with considering others’ perspectives.
What is the main takeaway from social development studies?
Theory of Mind is influenced by both innate abilities and social/environmental factors throughout development.
What is the relationship between linguistic ability and ToM?
Strong language skills correlate with better performance on ToM tasks.
Why is Theory of Mind considered cognitively demanding?
It depends on working memory, language processing, and executive function.
