Ontogeny Of Mentalising Flashcards
Is development stage like
–Evidence from traditional FB task and its modifications
–Evidence from FB tasks using implicit measures
–Evidence of overapplication of ‘ToM rules’ in older children
Factors contributing to theory of mind development
Executive fu ctioning
What is theory of mind
The insight that people hold mental states and that these govern behaviour
Examples of mental states
belief, desire, goals, etc..
What does a theory of mind do
Allow us to make sense of the social world – to predict and explain people’s actions
Desire based theory of mind
- People’s desires are idiosyncratic and constantly changing
* Do children understand that other people may have desires that differ from theirs?
People’s desires are
Idiosyncratic and constantly changing
Desire based theory of mind
Repacholi and Gopnik 1997
- 18m but not 14m understood that the experimenter’s desired food differed from theirs
- Suggests they understand that desire is a subjective mental state that can differ from person to person
Belief based theory of mind
- Distinction between mind / world
- Requires the notion that a person has a representation of the world, the contents of which may be quite different from the contents of the world itself
- Shift from a situation-based to a representation-based understanding of behaviour
A belief based theory of mind requires the notion that a person as a
Representation of the world, the content of which may be quite different from the contents of the world itself
A belief based theory of mind is a shift from
A sitiauation based to a representation based understanding of behaviour
False beliefs tasks include
- Unexpected transfer task (Wimmer & Perner, 1983)
- Deceptive box task (Gopnik & Astington, 1988)
- State change test (Wimmer & Hartl, 1991)
Unexpected transfer task is a false belief task used by
Simmer and Perner 1983
Gopnik and Astington 1988 used what false belief task?
Deceptive box task
The state change test was used by who as a false belief task
Simmer and Hartl 1991
Interpreting the findings
•3 year old children usually fail FB tasks
•4 year old children usually pass FB tasks
Traditionally taken as evidence that around this time children ‘acquire’ a theory of mind
•I.e. Radical conceptual shift and stage-like development around 4 years
•But perhaps the FB task underestimates younger children’s ability?
3 year old children usually…
Fail false belief tasks
4 year old children usually….
Pass false belief tasks
At 4 years old children acquire a
Theory of mind
Radical conceptual shift and stage like development occurs
Problem with FB tasks?
Could underestimate younger children’s ability
Performance on any cognitive task reflects at least 2 factors
Competence
Performance
Definition of competence and performance,
- Competence = conceptual understanding required to solve the problem
- Performance = other cognitive skills required to access and express understanding (e.g. ability to remember key info, focus attention, comprehend the question)
Perhaps younger children can showe better performance when…
The tasks are simplified
Do we KNOW that 3 year olds don’t have theory of mind
•lack of positive evidence doesn’t necessarily mean lack of competence
•Performance limitations masking children’s competence?
•problem with language?
–temporal marking
–test question – “where will maxi look first of all?”
(Siegal & Beattie, 1991)
–story comprehension (Lewis et al. 1994)
•Simplifying the task improves performance but not dramatically – *see ch in Mitchell & Ziegler for summary
3 year olds and theory of mind Iissue
Lack of positive evidence doesn’t necessarily mean lack of competence
Performance limitations masking children’s competence
Problem with lanaguage and 3 year olds theory of mind
–temporal marking
–test question – “where will maxi look first of all?”
(Siegal & Beattie, 1991)
–story comprehension (Lewis et al. 1994)
Problems with language and 3 year olds TOM Siegel and Beattie 1991
Question “where will Maxi look FIRST OF ALL
Problems with language and 3 year olds TOM Lewis et al 1994
Story comprehension
Mitchell and Ziegler 3 year olds and Tom: simplifying the task…
Improves performance,ace but not dramatically
The big debate includes
Boosters vs Scoffers
Boosters
‘Boosters’
•Early onset view
•Early Competence
- Posits:
- Early competence is masked by performance limitations
- task manipulations may enhance performance
- 3yr.o. should be able to perform above chance
Scoffers
- Delayed onset view
- Conceptual change
- Posits:
- performance must change from incorrect to systematically above chance
- Developmental change on FB tasks reflects genuine conceptual change