Theory Of Mind - The Development Of Social Cognition

Question 1

What is Theory of Mind?

Answer 1

Our understanding of what is going on in the mind of another person (a theory about what someone is thinking of feeling) and how this develops.

Question 2

What has Lack of ToM been suggested as an explanation of?

Answer 2

Autism Spectrum Disorder

Question 3

Who did a study into Intentional Reasoning?

Answer 3

Meltzoff (1988)

Question 4

What was the procedure of Meltzoff (1988)?

Answer 4

18 month old children observed adults put beads in a jar

Question 5

What were the 2 conditions of Meltzoff’s (1988) experiment?

Answer 5

Experimental - adults struggled and dropped the beads
Control - adults put the beads in the jar successfully

Question 6

What were the findings of both conditions of Meltzoff’s study?

Answer 6

In both conditions, toddlers then placed the beads in the jar (neither group dropped any beads)

Question 7

What do the findings of Meltzoff’s experiment suggest?

Answer 7

Suggests that the children were imitating what the adults were intending to do

Question 8

Who did a study into False Belief Tasks (3-4 year olds)?

Answer 8

Wimmer and Perner (1983)

Question 9

What was the procedure of False Belief Tasks study by Wimmer and Perner?

Answer 9

3-4 years old told a story about Maxi:
Maxi put his chocolate in a blue cupboard and then went to play. His grandmother used some of the chocolate then put it back in a green cupboard.
Children were asked which cupboard Maxi would look in when he came back.

Question 10

What were the findings of Wimmer and Perner’s False Belief Tasks study?

Answer 10

3 yr olds said the green cupboard (they think that Maxi knows what they know)
4 yr olds said the blue cupboard (they understood that Maxi will not know his grandmother moved it)

Question 11

What do the findings of Wimmer and Perner’s study suggest?

Answer 11

Theory of Mind becomes more advanced around 4 years old

Question 12

Who conducted the Sally-Anne studies?

Answer 12

Baron-Cohen et al.

Question 13

What was the Sally-Anne story?

Answer 13

Sally puts a marble into her basket. When Sally is not looking, Anne moves the marble to her box.
Where will Sally look for her marble?

Question 14

Why can the Sally-Anne scenario be used to measure Theory of Mind?

Answer 14

Understanding that Sally doesn’t know that Anne has moved the marble requires an understanding of Sally’s false belief about where it is (taking in Sally’s perspective)

Question 15

What were the groups in the Sally-Anne test?

Answer 15

27 children with normal development
14 children with Down’s syndrome
20 children with Autism

Question 16

What were the findings of the Sally-Anne test, when children were asked where Sally would look for the marble?

Answer 16

85% of the normally developed children answered correctly
86% of the children with Down’s syndrome answered correctly
Only 20% of the children with autism answered correctly

Question 17

What do the findings of the Sally-Anne test suggest?

Answer 17

A Theory of Mind deficit is involved in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Question 18

What is the Baron-Cohen et al. Eyes Task?

Answer 18

Devised because adults with ASD can easily perform in False Belief Tasks. It involves identifying the emotion displayed by a character whose eyes can only be seen.

Question 19

What were the findings of Baron-Cohen et al’s Eyes Task?

Answer 19

Adolescents and adults with ASD performed poorly compared to a control of adults without a learning disability

Question 20

Why do the False Belief Tasks lack validity?

Answer 20

They rely on visual memory (not just ToM), which is not as developed in 3-4yr olds, therefore failure of the task may be a result of poor memory

Question 21

What is the issue with Theory of Mind and perspective-taking?

Answer 21

Hard to distinguish between ToM and perspective-taking - studies may just be measuring perspective-taking

Question 22

What is a limitation of the Eyes Task?

Answer 22

It’s just a still pair of eyes alone, not the same as looking at someone in real life - task lacks mundane realism

Question 23

What’s a strength of ToM?

Answer 23

Real world application - has helped understand the difficulties experienced by those with ASD