Social Development

Question 1

Do children innately understands that others have minds?

Answer 1

No, it is learned

Question 2

What is the first thing children understand about other’s mind?

Answer 2

That other people are intentions

Question 3

At what age do children understand intentions?

Answer 3

By 6m

Question 4

What study was performed on the link between action and intentions in infants?

Answer 4

Violation of expectation paradigm where 6m were habituated to a hand grabbing a ball. In a test trial, they would look longer at the hand grabbing the doll, even when the objects were switched place. Suggesting that infants understands intentions

Question 5

Do infants as young as 6m understand non-human intentions?

Answer 5

No, in the same study on action and intentions, infants could not recognize intentions when the arm was replaced by a mechanical claw.

Question 6

At what age can children differentiate between intentional and accidental actions?

Answer 6

At 9m

Question 7

What are three important aspects that understanding other’s intentions enables?

Answer 7

1. Steps towards understanding the mind of others
2. Enables joint attention
3. Enable imitation

Question 8

When do children understand joint attention?

Answer 8

9-12m

Question 9

When do children begin to imitate?

Answer 9

9-12m

Question 10

According to Nativist, when do children start to imitate? Are they correct?

Answer 10

Nativist believe that imitation is innate and newborns can imitate parents by sticking out tongue. However, it is a very common actions, and it is the only thing they “imitate” suggesting that it is not imitation

Question 11

What is the link between imitation and learning?

Answer 11

Imitation is essential to observational learning because infants need to interpret other’s actions in order to imitate them?

Question 12

What study examined infants and intentional imitations?

Answer 12

Study on 12m observing adults pushing button with their hands. In full hand condition, children would push the button with their hands, in empty hands condition they would push the button with their heads. Suggesting the imitated the goal of the action, not the action itself, and were actively thinking about the context

Question 13

What is Theory of Mind?

Answer 13

Ability to attribute mental state to oneself and others?

Question 14

At what age can children understand that desires lead to outcomes? How do we know?

Answer 14

1y, experiment where someone was looking at 2 kitten and gushing over 1, but when she picked up the other one, infants looked longer, suggesting their understood the link between desire and action

Question 15

At what age develops a sense of self?

Answer 15

Innate, babies with rooting reflex will not turn their heads if they touch their own cheeks

Question 16

When does an explicit sense of self develop?

Answer 16

18-24m, whenever they pass the rouge test

Question 17

At what age can infants predict other’s desires based on their traits and not their own desires?

Answer 17

2y, before that they will us own desires to predict other’s actions.

Question 18

At what age do children start to understand and evaluate other people’s knowledge? How do we know?

Answer 18

Study with 3y infants who watched two adults name an object, correctly and incorrectly. Infants were more likely to trust the correct adult to name a novel object.

Question 19

At what age do children begin to understand expertise?

Answer 19

Around 3-4y, when 2 strangers are interacting with tools and broken toys, one knows the name of the toy and one knows how to fix them. Infants would selectively choose who they learn from depending on needs.

Question 20

When do children understand that knowledge leads to action?

Answer 20

Around 3y, but they have difficulties understanding that people will act according to their beliefs, even when they are false.

Question 21

What is the false-belief task?

Answer 21

Task with the understanding that others will behave consistent with their own beliefs, even when children know it is false.

Question 22

At what age do children pass the false-belief task?

Answer 22

At 5y, whereas they usually fail at 3y

Question 23

How stable is social cognition in children?

Answer 23

Quite stable, children better able to understand goal-direction action at 6m will performance better at the false-belief tasks at 4y.

Question 24

How does the Nativist View explained the emergence of ToM?

Answer 24

Through the theory of mind module: innate brain mechanism that develops at 5y.

Question 25

What 3 evidences support the ToM module of nativist?

Answer 25

1. Newborns have innate face preference (except they don’t)
2. Cultural universal development of ToM suggest biological base
3. Tempo-parietal junction, brain area activated when processing complex social situation. However, atypical TPJ in people with ASD, who also have much difficulty passing the false-belief task

Question 26

How does the Information Processing View explained the emergence of ToM?

Answer 26

False-belief tasks requires improved executives functioning skills and there is a correlation between executive skills and ToM

Question 27

How does the Learning View explained the emergence of ToM?

Answer 27

ToM comes from interactions with others (caregivers using mental state talk and siblings)

Question 28

So, how is ToM truly developed?

Answer 28

Probably of mix of everything; brain maturation, better executive functioning skills and more interaction with others

Question 29

So, how do children learn and when (5)?

Answer 29

1. Trial-and-error, from birth
2. Statistical learning, from birth
3. Observation and imitations from 9-12m
4. Taught by others from 3y onwards
5. ToM from 5y onwards