theory of mind Flashcards
what is theory of mind?
ability to attribute mental states to ourselves and others
why is theory of mind useful?
feature of social cognition
eg) to predict future behaviours, communicate with others, feel empathy etc
do non human primates have theory of mind?
assess visual perspective of others
use this to base dominance decisions, and decide which food to compete for
how do Western Scrub-Jays show theory of mind?
steal food
resteal based on whether they were observed
is theory of mind uniquely human? (controvery)
controversial to consider theory of mind in animals
what are beliefs?
understanding other people’s minds
beliefs predict behaviour
what is true belief?
person’s mental state doesn’t differ from reality
what is false belief?
a person’s mental state differs from reality
who conducted the unexpected transfer test?
Wimmer and Perner
what happens in the unexpected transfer test?
participants observe that an object moves from location A to location B without the protagonist’s knowledge
what are the results of the unexpected transfer test?
3 year olds fail
some 4 year olds pass
most 5 year olds pass
who conducted the deceptive box task?
Perner et al
what happened in the deceptive box task?
child shown a box of smarties and asked what it contained
next, showed that it contained a pencil
put the pencil back inside the box
child was asked what another person would think is inside the box
what were the results of the deceptive box task?
younger children stated the incorrect response of a pencil
older children understood the belief that another person would think smarties are in the box
what are explicit tasks?
children are asked to explicitly report the contents of another mind
what are implicit tasks?
children imply they are aware of other minds through their behaviour
what were the results of the unexpected preference test?
14 month olds couldn’t understand the experimenter’s different food preference
18 month olds recognised that the experimenter had a different preference
what are two components of deception?
understanding that another person’s mind holds a belief
stimulating a convincing sincere expression
how have young children demonstrated deception?
told lies about doing something forbidden
destroyed evidence to prevent a competitor finding hidden treasure
changed the content of a familiar container to trick the experimenter
when do psychologists propose children experience a rapid conceptual shift?
4 years old
what would be the case if there is a rapid conceptual shift?
would predict:
-consistency across studies/measures
-perfect performance in older children and adults
-universal ‘flip’ in performance
what changes helped children in the unexpected transfer test?
told the protagonist just turned around, instead of leaving the room
children asked to enact the search phase
what changes helped children in the deceptive box test?
had to write down what they thought was in the box at the start of the study
mailed this through a postbox
asked what they thought was in the box when they mailed the paper
what does a meta analysis show about about a rapid conceptual shift?
performance flips from below task to above chance aged 4
how does culture impact theory of mind development?
rate of development similar across cultures, but different timing
how does parenting impact theory of mind development?
single parenting, parental distress and poor economic situation associated with poor development
children performed better if their mothers explained using psychological causality
how does family size impact theory of mind development?
children with more siblings (especially older) are advantaged in theory of mind tests
children living in extended families are developmentally advantaged
