Theory of mind

Question 1

What is premack and woofrufs theory of mind as a cognitive ability

Answer 1

Theory of mind was proposed by premack and woofruf and is the ability to understand others have a distinct mind with their own emotions, beliefs and mental states

Question 2

Theory of mind

Answer 2

the cognitive ability to understand others have a seperate mind with their own thoughts, feelings and beliefs, involves the ability to recognise others emotions and beliefs which may differ from our own, research suggests this develops over time

Question 3

False belief studies

Answer 3

Used to research theory of mind and how it develops by giving children a scenario and asking them to interpret the distinct belief held by a character in the scenario, if they can recognise characters have false beliefs seperate to their own they have TOM ability-indicate children develop this ability by 6 years old

Question 4

How does the sally anne doll study show TOM

Answer 4

If children can recognise Sally holds a belief distinct from theirs they know to be false (the marble is still where she left it), it shows TOM as they realise others have their own distinct beliefs and opinions based on their own experiences, and others can hold beliefs they know to be false.

Question 5

Baron Cohen et al-Sally anne doll study procedure

Answer 5

Children are shown a scenario with two dolls, sally hides a marble in a box, anne hides the marble whilst she isnt present, sally looks for the marble and they are asked where will sally look for the marble

Question 6

Findings of sally anne doll study

Answer 6

-Children average age 4.5 answer correctly, but only 20% of autistic children answered correctly showing they may lack TOM

Question 7

Wimmer et al

Answer 7

Gave children a false belief scenario and found that 6 to 8 year olds answered correctly but some 4 year olds answered incorrectly suggesting TOM develops around 6

Question 8

Limitation-false belief not a good measure of TOM

Answer 8

Shatz- children under 4 can distinguish between mental states, children by 2y can name emotional states suggesting false beliefs tasks may be too complex and measuring more than TOM-Bloom and german suggests false belief tasks are too complex but children under 2y do have TOM

Question 9

Who suggests false belief tasks aren’t a good measure of TOM ability

Answer 9

Bloom and German

Question 10

+Practical application-Explanation for autism

Answer 10

-Baron Cohen suggests autism is due to a lack of TOM which causes issues with being able to empathise and understand others emotions