Theory of Mind Flashcards
Theory of Mind
The ability to interpret, predict, and explain the actions of others based on their internal mental states
- Beliefs, knowledge, desires, pretense
False beliefs:
beliefs that are outdated/not necessarily correct
Agent:
an entity capable of moving on its own, perceiving the environment around it, and interacting with that environment
Ex: People, Animals, Entities that (appear to) meet these criteria
Agents vs. Objects
Objects behave according to the laws of Newtonian physics
Agents violate some of these laws
Ex: Self-propelled motion
(Move themselves around)
React to internal mental states
(Goal-directed behavior)
Understanding Goals in Infancy
Study:
- Babies are habituated to the first image
- 2nd image: hand reaches in the same place, but the goal is different because they are grabbing the bear rather than the ball (Same trajectory, different goal)
Results:
- Infants looked longer at the surprising event
- Infants can keep track of goals!
6 month old infants infer goals
Study:
- Grasping hand (agent)
- Infants track the goal of hand
- Expect others to reach for what they “want” even in new places
Claw (non-agent)
- Infants track the motion path, not the goal
Understanding Goals: Imitation
Study: Do 18-month-olds imitate agents’ goals?
- The actor tries to pull apart the dumbbell, but failing
- The infants were given the dumbbell
- They imitated the goal the adult was trying to do/achieve
Results:
- Toddlers only imitate the person (agent), not the machine
- Imitate the person’s goal, not the motion pattern
- Imitation is based on the “rationality” of the action
Conflicting Representations: Different Goals/Desires
Study + Results:
- 18 month olds understand someone can want something different
Ex: The experimenter either says: “yum broccoli, yucky cracker” or “Ew broccoli, yummy cracker”
- 14 month old always gave cracker
- 18 month old gave what experimenter likes
Conflicting Representations: Pretense
- Children engage in and are entertained by, pretend play
- Emerges around 18-24 months
- Requires dissociating reality from an underlying mental state
Understanding Beliefs - False Belief Task Switched Location
Picture of a marble switching location when Sally walks away, where is the marble now?
The majority of 3 year olds fail, but 4 year olds pass
False Belief Task: Deceptive Box
What if you ask about one’s own beliefs?
Study: Deceptive Box of Smarties
- when you first saw this tube with a Smarties label, what did you think was in here?
Show them that they are wrong, it is a pencil
- Your friend is outside. If I show her this tube, what will she think is in there?
What will they ask the friend?
Results:
Conner (4-year-old) passed, but 3-year-old girl couldn’t separate her individual beliefs from others
Explaining the Shift in False Belief Performance
- Theory of mind concepts do not change , the ability to express the knowledge changes
- Change in performance
- 4 years of age has a conceptual shift
Development of Inhibitory Processing
Study:
-The child has to wait until the bell is rung to get M&M
Older kid waited
Younger kid ate M&M right away
- Clear developmental trend in inhibitory control
- Kids get better at inhibitory control as they get older
Reducing Inhibitory Demands: The ‘Look First’ Procedure
Study:
- Where will Sally look FIRST for her marble?
- Inhibitory demands are reduced when “first” is mentioned
- Can reduce inhibitory faster by just adding in the word “first”
- Saying “first” increases initial concentration to be stronger
Results:
- can turn 3-year-olds into 4-year-olds by saying “first”
- 3 year olds pass!
Reducing Inhibitory Demands: The ‘Posting’ (Mailing) Procedure
Study:
- boost strength of original belief
Results:
If salience of original belief is increased, and inhibitory demands are decreased, 3-year-olds will pass
Also can manipulate inhibitory demands and make 4-year-olds into 3-year-olds who don’t pass