social cognition - TOM + Selman Flashcards
social cognition
describes the mental processes we use when engaged in social interaction
eg. we make decisions on how to behave based on our understanding of a social situation.
theory of mind
Our personal understanding of what other people are thinking and feeling.
often referred to as “mind reading”.
As children we develop an understanding of what others are thinking this may include their beliefs, intentions & motives.
how is TOM studied
Different methods will be used to study ToM at different ages.
Simple ToM can be seen in toddlers (via intentional reasoning)
As children reach the age of 4, more sophisticated methods can be used (via false beliefs tasks).
For even older children/adults they can assess it further (via the Eyes task).
intentional reasoning study
Studies have shown that from about 18 months of age, children understand an adult’s intentions when carrying out simple tasks.
18-month-olds observed an adult placing beads into a jar.
In 1 condition, the adult appeared to struggle with this task and some beads missed the jar.
In the 2nd condition, the adult successfully placed all the beads in the jar.
child then did the same task.
They found that even though the child was able to place the beads in the jar, the child missed more often if they had been in the 1st condition.
This suggested that the child was imitating what the adult intended to do, rather than what they could do, showing ToM.
false belief tasks
Developed to test whether children can understand that people can believe something that’s not true.
Told 3–4-year-olds a story in which Maxi left his chocolate in a BLUE cupboard in the kitchen and then went to the playground. Later, his mother used some of the chocolate in her cooking and placed what was left in the GREEN cupboard.
The children were asked were Maxi would look for his chocolate when he comes back from the playground.
Most 3 yr. olds- incorrect stating he would look in green cupboard. (They assume that Maxi would know what they knew- no ToM).
Most 4 yr. olds- correctly stated the blue cupboard suggesting that ToM develops further by 4.
autism / ASD
It is a broad term for a wide range of features e.g. spectrum. Those with autism may experience challenges surrounding
-Social interaction
-Communication
-Repetitive/restrictive behaviours.
Due to autism being on a spectrum it can affect people in different ways.
how does TOM link to autism?
According to Baron-Cohen, Autism maybe caused by issues with cognitive processing in particular they lack TOM.
This means that those with Autism maybe less likely to understand other people’s perspectives - “mind blindness”
This results in problems understanding social situations, other people’s thoughts, intentions & emotions.
Lack of ToM may account for many social deficits that occur with autism e.g. poorer communication skills, limited social interaction, lack of gaze/gesture.
The Sally Anne study
Baron-Cohen et al (1985) used the Sally Anne study to study the link between ToM and Autism.
Children were told a story involving two dolls; Sally & Anne.
Sally places a marble in her basket but when she’s not looking Anne moves the marble to her box.
Understanding that Sally doesn’t know that Anne has moved her marble requires an understanding of Sally’s false belief about where it is.
Baron - Cohen et all (1985) procedure + findings
The Sally Anne task was given to 20 children with autism, 27 children without autism and then 14 children with Downs Syndrome (control group).
Findings:
85% of the children with Down Syndrome correctly stated where Sally would look for her marble.
Only 20% of the children with Autism correctly stated where Sally would look.
They concluded that autism causes or is caused by a ToM deficit.
eyes task - TOM testing in older children
This involves reading complex emotions in pictures/faces just by looking into the eyes / surrounding areas.
It was again found that older children/adults with autism struggled with the eyes task - Further supporting idea that ToM might be a cause of autism.
limitation of TOM - over reliance on false belief tasks to demonstrate TOM
E: Many criticise these types of tasks as they believe that they aren’t actually testing ToM. This is because tasks such as Sally Anne also require other cognitive skills e.g. visual memory.
C: can’t say for certain that people fail the task because they lack TOM. Could be caused by issues with visual memory. Lowers validity as you can’t determine the cause of the failure.
strength of TOM - research has been useful
E: ToM research has been useful in helping us to understand autism and why people with autism may have issues with social interaction. It is hard to have social interaction with someone if you don’t get a sense of what they are thinking/feeling. Research has also suggested that issues with ToM is cause of autism.
C: better understanding of autism means that interventions can be put in place to support people. Also raises awareness.
limitation of TOM - people question that issues with ToM is a cause of autism.
E: this is because not all people with autism lack TOM. in Sally Anne study, 20% of ppl with autism correctly stated where Sally would look. Also, ppl without autism can lack TOM.
C: suggests there must be other factors involved in development of autism, suggesting the link between TOM and autism is not as strong as first believed.
social perspective taking
our ability to appreciate a social situation from the POV of other people.
eg. Piaget’s 3 mountains task
Selman
proposed that development of a social perspective taking is a separate process - a domain specific
whereas Piaget believed in domain - general cog development as he believed physical + social perspective taking would occur hand in hand - less egocentric
Selman’s research
used a series of dilemmas which explored child’s reasoning when faced with conflicting feelings.
scenarios required the child to take on someone else’s perspective
- studied 60 children (30 boys + girls from age 4-6)
- scenario centered around Holly and Cat stuck in a tree. Required kids to take on multiple perspectives eg. Holly, her father and cat’s owner
- based on child’s responses Selman could determine their level of social perspective taking
Selman stages
stage 0 - 3-6 years (egocentric)
stage 1 - 6-8 years (social informational)
stage 2 - 8-10 years (self reflective)
stage 3 - 10-12 (mutual)
stage 4 - 12+ (social + conventional system)
he believed these were based on maturity + experience
strength of Selman - supportive research is longitudinal eg. Gurucharri
E: longitudinal study is a study that takes place over a long period of time. In this research, they found positive correlations between development of ability + age in same way Selman did eg. older the child, more developed their perspective taking abilities
C: increases validity as social perspective taking increased with age . lots of data in longitudinal studies. Increases understanding.
limitation of Selman - argued development of perspective taking was linked to healthy social development
E: however, it’s not always the case. In a study that looked at perspective taking amongst bullies they found that bullies had no problem in perspective taking. they understood POV of others but continued to display unhealthy social behaviour.
C: suggests that perspective taking may not be as important to healthy social development as once thought
limitation of Selman - cultural issues
E: evidence has been found for cultural differences in perspective taking skills eg. students have been compared on perspective taking abilities in both American + Chinese students - chinese students significantly more advanced than American counterparts at all compared ages
C: suggests that culture plays a role in social cognition, which contradicts Selman’s beliefs that development is biologically driven. He failed to consider that China was a collectivist culture.
