Lecture Last Flashcards
What is the main theoretical assumption of theory of mind
It is called a theory because it resembles theories in that we make hypotheses and predictions of other people’s mental states. It is not an ability but a theory because we can’t see mental states
Discuss Bar n-Cohen, Leslie and Frith’s 1985 study
Does the autistic child have a theory of mind? They concluded that theory of mind is impaired in autism and independent from IQ and language. Only 20% of children with autism passed the test compared to nearly 100% of typically developing children or children with Down’s syndrome. Further research shows that IQ and language are more closely linked with theory of mind.
Discuss the triad of impairments of Autism
Wing and Gould (1979). Social interaction difficulty - eye contact, joint attention, social and emotional reciprocity. Restricted imagination and repetitive behaviours and restricted interests - only in autism! Lack of repetitive pretend play, routines, repetitive motor mannerisms. Language and communication impairment - when there is verbal language, they tend to communicate own needs, one sided conversations, pronoun reversal. Can theory of mind explain these things?
Discuss joint attention
Protodeclaratives - showing behaviours very rare. Protoimperatives - requests made by means of non verbal communication appear usually without eye contact and without pointing gestures. To display joint attention it is necessary to understand attention all states (primitive/external version of mental states)
How is symbolic play relevant to autism and theory of mind
Individuals with autism fail to produce pretend play or if they do is stereotyped and repetitive. Pretend play is a reflection of the ability to put representations on hold. Sally thinks the ball is in the basket but it does not matter that the ball is or not in the basket, that is what she thinks.
What is theory of mind?
Ability to understand predict other people’s behaviour and mental states on the basis of empathy and deception
Summarise the theory of mind and autism
The study of theory of mind in autism had provided information about what are the consequences of an impairment in theory of mind, what is the nature of theory of mind and how theory of mind develops from joint attention to false belief. Studying atypical development enables us to have a better understanding of the nature of development disorders so that interventions can be destined accordingly
Discuss the modular snapshot child
The mind is made up of modules. Development occurs in domain specific modules. The modules can range from recognising faces to learning language to recognising gravity to understanding intentions to recognising other people’s gaze direction to understanding others feelings. There is a module for everything! Development can be studied by testing the level of each of these modules at any particular point in this - this a snapshot approach to development. But beyond modularity modules are the result of development not strictly genetic programmed
Discuss developmental perspective
Karmiloff-smith 1998 - the key to development disorders is development itself! Slight differences in early biases can lead to different developmental trajectories. These differences will impact not on one aspect of development but it will have knock on effects on other abilities. It is important therefore to study how developmental disorders develop not just the end product in order to understand which are the core impairments. All the disorders are genetic, so that may be why there is no bias
