Lecture 6 - Theory of Mind

Question 1

Theory of Mind

Answer 1

• underlies the ability to explain, predict and interpret actions and speech by attributing mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions). putting yourself in ones shoes
• predicting how others will act is central to social interaction
• to understand others’ actions need to understand their mental states

Question 2

belief-desire reasoning

Answer 2

• people act to fulfil their desires in light of their beliefs
• wrong belief can lead to misguided action
• if we know a persons belief & desire we can predict how they will act

Question 3

ToM: human development

Answer 3

• false belief tasks considered to provide the best test of understanding mental states. need to predict how someone who has a belief different to one’s own will act
• ToM hypothesis for autism: proposal that ability to understand others’ mental states is impaired in autism & would fail ToM
• two false belief tasks: Maxi task & Sally Anne Task

Question 4

results of false belief tasks

Answer 4

1. typical development
   > children answer correctly after 4-5 years. before is based on where object is now (incorrect). 20% correct @ 30m, 50% correct @ 44m
   - well known variant is unexpected contents task - easier as children themselves experience the false belief but most 3y still fail
   - may be difficult due to language difficulties?
2. dev disorders
   - compared to typical group for sally anne task (85% pass), down syndome = 86% but autism only 20% pass.

Question 5

how do children acquire a theory of mind

Answer 5

• theory-theory (Gopnik & Wellman 1994) - child scientists. children collect evidence and refine their hypotheses
• simulation theory - TOM depends on being able to imagine others pov.
• modularity theory - TOM is an innate cog capacity. TOM module can be impaired in dev disorders.
• ASD people find it hard to detect emotions in face and emotions in self
• young children need to experience emotions before they can recognise it in others

Question 6

individual differences in false belief task performance

Answer 6

• language skills and EF
  > better EF predicts passing ToM as can inhibit incorrect response. links to empathy
• home environment & parenting
  > parents who explain & discuss vs just punish
  > securely attached infants
  > maternal mind mindednedd
  > all above predict oppos to develop TOM

Question 7

other tests of TOM

Answer 7

• evidence of a distinction between intuitive/implicit and reflective components of TOM
• found evidence for implicit understanding in younger ages
• show awareness of perceptions desires & intentions <18m
• implicit understanding of false belief at 9m - 3y

Question 8

awareness of others’ perceptions at <18m

Answer 8

• ability to recognise goals underlying others’ actions
  Lizkowski et al (2006) - 12 and 18m point to provide info for others. either to do something or declaratively. child points to something while adult looks = requires understanding of what the adult wants to find
• Tomasello & Haberl (2003) - 12 and 18m know a new toy is for another person. 1y have understanding of others’ intentions and desires to play with new toy.

Question 9

implicit understanding of false belief at 9m to 3y

Answer 9

• Bloom & German (2000) - classic false belief tasks are difficult and demanding. led to studies using other methods
  > looking time methods e.g. Onishi & Baillargeon (2005): infant watches actor put object into box, moves or stays in box, actor can see what is happening or not then reaches into one box. children at 15m know what a false belief is and know the adult shouldnt know where the object is. 15m look longer when someone successfully searches for object when they should have had false belief
  > anticipation method (looking based). Southgate et al (2007) used eye tracking to record where on screen infants looked as they watched different false belief. 25m eye movemenys anticipate where actor will search.

Question 10

use of alternative methods to study false belief in adults with asperger’s syndrome

Answer 10

• AS: type of autism spectrum disorder with preserved cog and language abilities. high functioning.
• inc impairments in social interactions
• Bowler (1995) showed AS indivs solving theory of mind tasks.
• adults with AS do not anticipate where actor will search.
• adults with AS do not show spontaneous attribution of mental states even though they tend to pass explicit tests e.g. sally anne and maxi as can be learned
• shows evidence for dissociation between implicit (spontaneous, not learned) and implicit (learned, reflective) understanding of TOM

Question 11

apes

Answer 11

• three species of apes can do implicit TOM task and have understanding of false belief

Question 12

interpreting the dissociation between early developing (intuitive) and later developing (reflective) TOM skills

Answer 12

1. explicit tasks are wrong: fail to measure 3y true abilities due to cog demands
2. implicit tasks are wrong: can be explained more simply without assuming infants have knowledge of mental states
3. tasks measure dif aspects of TOM - early dev intuitive understanding is a basis for later explicit understanding.
   - intuitive develop early & may not change much
   - explicit develop later & inc in sophistication

Question 13

beyond 4y: further development of TOM

Answer 13

• second order mental states: X believes that Y believes that P
• Perner & WImmer - at 7-8y children able to rep and reason from 2nd order veliefs .
• inc sophisticated reasoning about mental states is a basis for understanding
  > speech in which listener is not intended to take meaning literally
  > white lies told to protect feelings
  > social faux pas (unintentionally creating hurt feelings)
• all these developing in school years
• show deficits in individuals in asperger syndrome

Question 14

TOM in healthy adults

Answer 14

• as an alt to complex TOM scenarios, researchers have measured how quickly pp;s work out correct answer
• Surtees & Apperly 2012 - 6-10y and adults faster to judge what character can see and when consistent with characters perspective
• responses inc with age but size of this effect remains with age
• shows continuity between childhood TOM abilities and adult TOM
• adv of using reaction time: adults are at ‘ceiling’ no errors