understanding own and other's minds Flashcards
what is ToM
theory of mind
-a person’s concept of mental activities, understanding others possess mental states/ have thoughts that my be different to ours
what comes before the development of theory of mind
development of self awareness
what is one way to test self awareness
Brooks- Gunn 1979 rouge test
what is the rouge test
-test for self awareness in infants 9-24 months
-infants have red mark placed on forehead discretely, then placed in front of mirror whilst playing to see if they interact/acknowledge red spot
what are the findings of the rouge test
-infants 9-12 months interact with mirror as if they are seeing another child
-only at about 15 months babies realise its them and may try to wipe the red spot
-at 18 months babies are aware it is them in mirror
what is another test for self awareness
shopping trolley study
-trolley attached to a mat so when infant stands on mat the trolley cannot move
findings of the shopping trolley test
-15 months ish infants see the mat as the problem but do not understand that when they are standing on it, this is the problem
-18 months have self awareness and know not to stand on mat
what did repacholi and gopnik 1997 state about self awareness
by 18 months infants recognise their desires are different to other people’s
what did wellman 1990 describe ToM as
process where we predict and explain the behaviours of others based on what we understand their beliefs and desires to be, even if their beliefs are inaccurate
-the basis of most social interaction in pre school children develops aged 3-4
what are three ways of testing theory of mind
sally ann test
smarties task
deception game
sally ann test (ToM)
Happe
-Sally puts ball in basket and leaves
-ann moves ball into box
-when sally enters where will she look for the ball
-young children tend to find this hard to think from sally’s point of view as they believe everyone has the same info as them
smarties task (ToM)
-children asked what is inside of smarties tube, answer “smarties”
-pencils poured out of smarties tube
-children asked to predict what others will think is in the box
-some children predict children have the same info as them and will say pencils
deception game (ToM)
Peskin 1992
-‘mean’ monkey and sticker pack
-children point to the sticker they want but ‘mean’ monkey takes it
-older children will learn to point to a sticker they don’t want so monkey gets it and they get the sticker they want
language and ToM
-children must be able to think and know words about emotion and desires
-aided by words depicting mental states e.g parents who use emotional words, their children tend to do better in ToM tasks
cognitive abilities and ToM
-ability to understand reality and truth
-2 executive functions:
1. metacognition = knowledge of ones abilities in relation to thinking
2. cognitive inhibition = children under 3 unable to inhibit specific thoughts and behaviours
-Flavell 2000: very hard for us to think of nothing although children claim they can but when they get older they admit this is almost impossible
