Theory of Mind Flashcards
Define Theory of Mind
Ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others
What does Theory of Mind include?
Thoughts, Beliefs and Intentions
Why is it difficult to understand other minds?
Because the content is unobservable
How does one’s history help us understand someone’s mind?
We can track their beliefs
What can we make about observable actions?
Mental state inferences
How can we see things from someone else’s point of view?
Take their perspective
Why is TOM useful? (2 points)
Can predict future actions and behaviours and may give a reason for past behaviours.
What have we found in non-human primates?
They assess the visual perspective of others and use this to decide which food to compete for (dominance)
What do Western Scrub-jays do similarly to primates?
Cache food, pilfer other’s caches and then re-cache based on whether they were observed
What is one concern with TOM in animals?
Is it as fully developed as it is in humans?
What do beliefs predict?
Behaviour
What is children’s inferences most likely based on, instead of beliefs?
Their knowledge
What are some ways to test children’s TOM?
Unexpected transfer test and Deceptive box test
What is an Explicit Task?
Children are asked to explicitly report the contents of another mind
What is an Implicit Task?
Children imply they are aware of other minds through their behaviour
What does actively trying to deceive another person imply?
An understanding of other minds
When do children rapidly acquire a concept of ‘belief’?
Around their 4th birthday
When children did the unexpected transfer test, their performance was helped when…
The protagonist turned around instead of leaving the room and the children were asked to enact the search phase
What were the findings for the deceptive box-test-mailing procedure?
60% of 3-year-olds answered correctly
In regards to culture, what was found about the rate of development?
It’s similar but the timing is different
What is associated with poorer TOM performance?
Single parenting, parental distress and poorer economic situations
Children with more what are developmentally advantaged in passing a test of false belief compared with singletons?
Siblings
