social cognition : theory of mind

Question 1

what is theory of mind

Answer 1

the ability to mind-read.

A personal theory of belief about what other people know, are feeling or thinking.

Tested via different methods depending on age.

Develops around 3-4-years-old.

Autistic children may find social interaction difficult, possibly due to ToM deficit.

Question 2

what is intentional reasoning research

Answer 2

Meltzoff (1988) demonstrated that even 8-month-olds understand intention, i.e. have basic ToM. Beads in a jar experiment.

Question 3

what are false belief tasks

Answer 3

Wimmer and Perner(1983).From 4 children can cope with tasks requiring an understanding of false beliefs. Maxi chocolate study.

Question 4

how was ToM tested

Answer 4

Sally-Anne task. A false belief task requiring an understanding that Sally will look in the wrong place for a marble because she does not know that Anne has moved it. Baron-Cohen et al. found ToM rare in ASD children (tested with 20 ASD children and a control of 14 with Down’s and 27 without diagnosis).

Eyes Task. Older ASD children and adults perform well on false beliefs tasks. Baron-Cohen et al. (1997) used the Eyes task to demonstrate adults also had ToM deficits.

Question 5

limitations of theory of mind

Answer 5

• Low validity of false belief tasks. False belief tasks may test memory as well as ToM. Bloom and German found that children with ToM can struggle with false belief tasks. Improved performance with visual aids.
• Low internal validity in the eyes task. Baron-Cohen et al. argue it measures ‘mind-reading’. However, real- life experiences involve seeing a face as part of a dynamic interaction. Therefore conclusions from the eyes task lack validity as it is not realistic measure of ToM. This questions conclusions about ASD.
• Hard to distinguish between ToM from perspective taking. Most research into ToM could equally be measuring perspective-taking. If it’s basically the same it lacks any usefulness.
• Partial explanation of ASD. Although ASD is associated with problems, it may not be the cause of ASD. Tager-Flusberg notes ToM deficits are not specific to ASD and not all people with ASD have ToM deficits. Therefore it is only a partial explanation.