Lecture 6 - Social Understanding (of the mind) Flashcards
What are some folk-physical principles?
- Objects are solid
- Objects exist even when we cannot see them
- Application of forces lead to movement
How would folk-physical explanations explain why the cup moves upwards from the table?
- It was acted upon by an upward force greater than gravity
- The lateral force from fingers around the cup induced sufficient friction to allow the upwards force to be effected.
What are some folk-psychological principles?
- Perceptions lead to belief
- Basic emotions and physiology lead to desire
How would folk-psychological explanations explain why the cup moves from the table?
The woman who owned the cup wanted a drink, and she thought there was drink in the cup, so she picked it up.
What is the main source of data on children’s early conceptual abilities?
Big databases on what children say and what people say to children, called linguistic corpora.
What are linguistic corpora?
Big databases on what children say and what people say to children.
What are the big databases on what children say and what people say to children called?
Linguistic Corpora
At what age do children use mental verbs, and begin to contrast their own perspectives?
2 and a half years old.
At what age does the language acquisition of children begin to develop?
18 months.
How do children manage basic word learning?
Association - between hearing the name of an object, and seeing an object.
How can we be sure that children associate words being said with the object it is related to?
The child’s behaviour is sensitive to the intentions of the speaker - they pay attention to the direction that the speaker is looking, enabling learning of the name of the intended object.
Tests of children’s understanding of other people’s preferences show what?
18 month-olds are able to suppress their own preferences, and listen to others’, whereas 14 month-olds are not able to.
Suggests that basic understanding of mental states is innate.
When can children pass false belief tasks, such as the deceptive box task (Ashington & Gopnik, 1988)?
4 years old. Children 3 years and below tend to struggle.
Why do 3 year olds tend to fail false belief tasks?
They lack a conceptual understanding of how beliefs work, and the role they play in leading to intention/action. They therefore fall back to their own interpretations/beliefs of the situation.
What is a possible pragmatic problem with the deceptive box task?
Children may believe that the question is asking what another person will think is inside, if they are allowed to open it and see for themselves. Needs to be emphasised that it is the belief of the person without opening the box.
