Ontogeny of Mentalising

Question 1

Define theory of mind

Answer 1

The insight that people hold mental states and that these given behaviour.

Having an understanding of mental states that allow us to make sense of the social world.

Question 2

Desire Based ToM is an early or late theory?

Answer 2

Early

Question 3

Define desire based ToM

Answer 3

Ability to understand that peoples desires are idiosyncratic and constantly changing.

Question 4

How old were the children in Repacholi & Gopnik (1997) study who demonstrated desire based ToM with broccoli and crackers

Answer 4

18m

At 14m didn’t understand the experimenters different desire.

Question 5

Belief based ToM is a later theory of mind that distinguishes between

Answer 5

Mind and World

Question 6

Define belief based ToM

Answer 6

Understanding that a person has a representation of the world, the contents of which may be different to the world itself.

Question 7

A belief based ToM involved a shift between

Answer 7

Situational based to representational based understanding of behaviour.

Question 8

Name the three classic examples of the false belief task:

Answer 8

oUnexpected transfer task (Wimmer & Perner, 1983)

oDeceptive box task (Gopnik & Astington, 1988)

oState change test (Wimmer & Hartl, 1991)

Question 9

At what age do children typically pass, and typically fail FB tasks?

Answer 9

4 year olds pass

3 year olds fail

Question 10

What explains the difference between 4 year old and 3 year old performance on the FB task?

Answer 10

A radical conceptual shift and stage like development

Question 11

Define the difference between competence and performance

Answer 11

oCompetence = conceptual understanding required to solve the problem

oPerformance = other cognitive skills required to access and express understanding (e.g. ability to remember key info, focus attention, comprehend the question)

Question 12

What is one explanation given to children failing FB tasks?

Answer 12

Inability to comprehend the story.

Question 13

At 3 years old children may have ToM but what prevents this from being demonstrated on a FB task?

Answer 13

Performance limits competence

Question 14

What are the two debates regarding ToM acquisition

Answer 14

Boosters vs Scoffers

Question 15

Define Boosters

Answer 15

early onset, early competence which is masked by performance limitations.
3 year olds should perform above chance

Question 16

Define Scoffers

Answer 16

Delayed onset, conceptual change performance changes from incorrect to systematically above change, task demands should not influence performance.

Question 17

Wellman Cross and Watson 2001’s meta-analyse found that what aged children?

Answer 17

4+ above chance performance

-3 bellow chance performance

Question 18

Wellman Cross and Watson’s 2001 meta-analyse concluded that

Answer 18

Changing the task improves performance at all ages, not just 3 years and under

Question 19

Callaghan et al. 2005 found universality with their being a radical shift between which years? leading to improved FB performance

Answer 19

3 and 5

Question 20

Experience influences ToM development, Harris 1999 found that conversations about what improved ToM

Answer 20

Other peoples persepectives

Question 21

Children with older siblings show earlier ToM found by:

Answer 21

Perner, Ruffman and Leekham 1994

Question 22

Children who’s parents talk to them about mental states show earlier FB, found by:

Answer 22

Dunn et al. 1991

Ruffman, Slade, Crowe 2002

Question 23

Deaf children without signing parents show a developmental delay in what?

Answer 23

ToM, found by Peterson and Siegel 1995

Question 24

Theory of Mind scale developed by Wellman and Liu 2004 follows 5 steps:

Answer 24

Diverse Desires
Diverse Beliefs
Knowledge-access
False Belief
Hidden Emotion

Question 25

Wellman et al. 2006 found that children in Western cultures followed the above scale

Answer 25

DD>DB>KA>FB>HE

Question 26

Wellman et al. 2006 found that Chinese and Iranian children from collectivist cultures developed in a different order:

Answer 26

DD>KA>DB>FB>HE

Question 27

The role of executive functioning has been argued to influence childrens failures on?

Answer 27

ToM, issues with translating conceptual knowledge.

Question 28

What are the 3 key types of executive functions?

Answer 28

Inhibition
Cognitive Flexibility
Working Memory

Question 29

Which executive function influences childrens performance on ToM

Answer 29

Inhibition; ability to surpass unwanted responses and ignore distractions information.

Question 30

Describe the bear dragon task

Answer 30

Like Simon says the bear copies but the dragon does not copy, so you have to suppress the copying response.

Question 31

Executive functioning is critical is the child is supposed to pass

Answer 31

False belief

Question 32

What part of the brain is important in executive functioning

Answer 32

Frontal lobes

Question 33

Frontal lobes develop seems to link with executive functioning at what ages?

Answer 33

3 - 6 years

Question 34

Inhibitory control may be crucial in developing which factors of mental state knowledge

Answer 34

Emergence and Expression

Question 35

Define Explicit and Implicit knowledge

Answer 35

Explicit knowledge

• knowledge easily accessible to the child
• Measure via elicited response, e.g. verbal answer to a question

Implicit knowledge

• Knowledge the child is unaware of
• Measure via spontaneous response

Question 36

Implicit understanding of FB was studied by Molle et al. 2016 who measured the Cookie Monster and found what?

Answer 36

Greater instances of expressed tension in the false belief

at 3 years old

Question 37

Implicit understanding studied by Clements and Perner 1994 had an implicit and explicit measure for the mouse and cheese and found:

Answer 37

86% of children 2 years and 11 months showed pattern indicative of FB understanding

Question 38

A large gap between implicit and explicit understanding at what age?

Answer 38

2 years 11 months

Question 39

Southgate Senju and Csibra 2007 looked at anticipatory looking in 2 year olds and found?

Answer 39

2 years and younger - Earlier FB understanding than Clements and Perner 1994.

Question 40

Onishi and Baillargeon 2005 used a total non-verbal test in 15 month olds and found?

Answer 40

FB understanding in 15 month old babies.

Question 41

Time studies with infants are refered to as

Answer 41

Violation expectancy method

Question 42

The violation expectancy method shows that the child is surprised if

Answer 42

They look longer at inconsistent event, suggesting some knowledge of what is happening.