Theory Of Mind

Question 1

Define Theory Of Mind

Answer 1

An individuals understanding that other people have separate mental states and that others see the world from a different point of view to their own

Question 2

Define Sally-Anne test

Answer 2

A Story about two dolls, Sally and Anne. Sally doesnt know that the ball she placed in her basket has been moved to a box by Anne, the audience see Anne do this.
Where will sally look for her ball?
Where she left it or where it has moved to?
The story is used to test theory of mind in children

Question 3

Define False Belief

Answer 3

The understanding that others may hold and act on mistaken beliefs

Question 4

Define Autism

Answer 4

A Mental disorder which usually appears in early childhood and typically involves avoidance of socail contact,
Abnormal

Question 5

Explain Early Development

Answer 5

72 hour old newborns show understanding of others in their ability to imitate facial expressions such as tongue and lip protrusions, found by Meltzoff and Moore.

Around the age of 3 months infants will follow a persons gaze to nearby objects indicating an understanding of communicative intent.

Infants around the age of 3-4 years that social relationships develop. Around this age, children start using terms like ‘think’ and ‘know’ when referring to others

Question 6

Wimmer and Perner; Aim

Answer 6

Devised a false belief task to assess ToM

Question 7

Wimmer and Perner: Procedure

Answer 7

Researchers act out the following story using dolls and matchboxes:
Maxi sees his mother put some chocolate in a blue cupboard.
When Maxi goes out to play his mother uses the chocolate to make a cake and leaves the leftovers in the green cupboard.
When Maxi Returns he wants some chocolate.
Children are then asked ‘which cupboard will Maxi look in?’

Question 8

Wimmer and Perner: Finding

Answer 8

Nearly all 3 year olds tested said Maxi would look in the green cupboard.
Some 4 year olds understood that while they knew where the chocolate was, Maxi would look in the blue cupboard.
By 6 all children could answer correctly.

Question 9

Theory Of Mind as An Explanation of Autism

Answer 9

The social interaction difficulties autistic individuals face may be explained by an inability to understand the mental states of others and to predict and adjust to the behaviour of others.

Question 10

Theory Of Mind as An Explanation of Autism:

Sally Anne Test: Procedure

Answer 10

20 Autistic Children around 12,
14 Children with Downs Syndrome (Chronologically same age of 12 but low mental age.
27 ‘Normal’ children around 4.
All viewed the Sally-Anne scenario. They were asked control questions to check they had seen Anne move the marble, then asked the ‘belief’ question about where Sally would believe the ball to be.

Question 11

Theory Of Mind as An Explanation of Autism

Sally Anne Test: Findings

Answer 11

85% of ‘Normal’ children correctly answered the false belief question. The same was true for the children with Downs Syndrome.
Only 20% of autistic children answered correctly

Question 12

Theory Of Mind as An Explanation of Autism

Sally Anne Test: Later Research With Adults

Answer 12

As autistic adults can pass the Sally-Anne test.
Psychologists devised the eyes task to test whether high-functioning individuals might have ToM.
Participants are shown pictures of peoples eyes and asked to select one of two emotions that might be represented.
Adults on the autistic spectrum had a mean score of 16.3 compared to ‘normal’ participants with a mean of 20.3/25 suggesting there was an impairment in autistic individuals.

Question 13

Theory Of Mind as An Explanation of Autism:

Biological Basis

Answer 13

The fact ToM develops at a particular age and is likely to be absent in people with autism led Baron-Cohen to propose a theory of mind module:
A specific brain mechanism that matures around the age of four and explains our ability to understand the mental states of others.

Question 14

Evaluate the Theory Of Mind:

Relationship between understanding intentions and ToM

Answer 14

Psychologists found autistic children aged 2 to 5 could follow someone else’s gaze and also looked where someone pointed. This behaviour was much the same as ‘normal’ children, which suggests the understanding of intention is a separate ability to ToM.

Question 15

Evaluate the Theory Of Mind:

Evidence for the role of experience and biology

Answer 15

Psychologists report that ToM appears earlier in children from large families as having a large family, especially one with older siblings, means the child is challenged to think about the feelings of others when resolving conflicts.

Found in discussion about motives and other mental states promotes ToM development. In addition it is found similar developmental sequence in 300 Chinese’s and North American children but the timing differed by as much as two years. Such research suggests biology has a role as does the social environment,

Question 16

Evaluate the Theory Of Mind:

Baron-Cohen’s eye task may have low internal validity

Answer 16

Baron-Cohen claimed the eyes task measures mind reading, which is essentially the same as ToM. However, Wellman and Woolley argue there is a difference between knowing another’s internal state and understanding their experience of the world. The Sally-Anne test measures ToM but the Eyes task may not.

Question 17

Evaluate the Theory Of Mind:

ToM as an explanation for autism

Answer 17

if a lack of ToM was a central aspect of autism then we would expect all autistic individuals to show this impairment. However research suggests only some autistic individuals lack ToM. Furthermore, children with autism may not develop ToM because their condition prevents them communicating and engaging with others. They may lack the appropriate social experiences that lead to ToM rather than ToM leading to poor social interaction. Research studies into autism are often quasi-experiments so causal conclusions are not justified.

Question 18

Evaluate the Theory Of Mind:

Culture Bias

Answer 18

Baron-Cohen studied British people and his approach to understanding autism has a very western perspective. Maguire suggests the western view of other cultures where symptoms associated with autism may not be considered abnormal.