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.
