Unit 3 Flashcards
Do we see ourselves as different than objects? What is it? Why?
!
- yes
- theory of mind -social cognition
- we see ourselves as rational agents with inner life & subjective view of the world
- intentional actions based on reasons -can explain to others
What is social life?
communicate, cooperate, compete, or engage w/ other ppl
When do we know kids start to have theory of mind (not asking for age)
- when children ascribe representational states such as beliefs & desires
1) understanding that a certain state might misrepresent a situation
2) appreciating that the very same situation might be represented differently by two agents or the same one later on
Up until what age do kids fail false-belief tasks?
-4
What are examples of false-belief tasks?
!
- Change in Location Task (Sally-Anne)
- unexpected content task (smarties/pencils)
- Appearance-Reality Task (rock/sponge)
At what age do you develop understanding of fictional mental states (imagination)?
-2
Who has delays in ToM?
- autism (have some deficiencies with ToM)
- deaf children with hearing parents -b/c lack in communicative experiences)
With ToM what do you understand first as a kid and then later in adolescence?
- infants - some belief -implicit
- then understand desires -or ascribe desires to other ppl after age 2
- then in adolescence understand higher-order beliefs & more complicated emotions
Does ToM decline with age?
-controversial - less accurate to ascribe higher-order mental states (ex. white lies) -don’t recognize subtle emotions - but it might just be other stuff declining/lack in motivation
What plays a crucial role in ToM development? (hint - what does Vygotsky like?) + 1 more?
- language
- helps to learn the words want & desire
- helps with the semantics
- Executive functions - working memory
What family background stuff is correlated w/ ToM?
-ToM competence associated w/ fam bg - maternal education & socioeconomic status - number of older siblings also positively
What part of the brain is associated with ToM?
-prefrontal cortex - specifically -temporal-parietal junction
What is theory theory?
!
- basically you create theories about the world & other people’s mental states -update rules as learn/grow - use your learning of others to ascribe to mental states to them?
- about experience
What is simulation theory?
!
- introspection & imagination
- role-taking -simulate & imitate behaviour
- our mental lives we use to ascribe mental states to others - make use of our own to simulate others
- introspection
- non-introspectionist
What is introspection in the simulation theory?
introspect the kinds of mental states we are in then use them in order to simulate what other ppl might be thinking
What is non-introspectionist?
-in simulation we simply take our own cognitive processes offline & imagine what a given situation might look like from another perspective
What does neuroimaging say about simulation theory?
-brain lights up similarly when watch someone perform action or express feeling
What is Nativism?
- ToM is innate - don’t have to learn - -implicit & explicit
- babies succeed at implicit, but can’t (innately) do explicit until later
Two systems account?
-opposes nativism - says there’s implicit and explicit but only implicit is innate but then through second system you learn beliefs
what is theory of mind?
the ability to attribute mental states to oneself and others; understanding that mental states influence behaviour
- thinking about beliefs, desires, intentions, perceptions, emotions, knowledge, empathy
- use it in social interactions & watching TV - try to understand other’s mental state
- what’s going on inside your mind & others
What are the 3 criteria of Theory of Mind?
1) must understand that others have mental states
2) must understand that others’ mental states can differ from your own (overcoming egocentrism)
3) must understand that mental states can be inaccurate to reality
What is false belief understanding
understanding that others can believe something that is wrong or false with reality -can believe something that’s not true
Egocentrism & ToM?
- three mountains task
- have to understand another’s perspective/mental state
What is an example of Change in Location False Belief Task?
- Sally & Anne - put marble in basket -move the marble to box when the toy sally is out of the room - when ask the kid where sally would think the marble is they say the box even though sally would think basket
- doesn’t understand sally would have a a belief that is false
- 3 year olds fail
- 4-5 year olds pass
What is an example of Unexpected Contents False Belief Task?
-ask kid what’s in smarties box - they say smarties - show it’s pencils inside - ask what someone out of the room would think is inside - they say pencils
What is an example of Appearance Reality False Belief Task?
-sponge is painted like a rock - they think rock, but touch it -then ask if mom was here and she didn;t touch it what would she think it is & they say sponge
At what age do kids pass false-belief tasks?
- 3 year olds fail
- 4-5 pass
- but individual differences
Is ToM universal?
- yes but doesn’t mean it develops the same -diff order/patterns
- most research done in West - but example - Fiji ToM develops later because in culture it’s rude to put yourself is someone elses mind
In Fiji when do kids pass ToM tasks?
-6 or 7 instead of 4-5
In individualistic cultures what is the pattern of ToM development?
-first understand desire, then that other ppl have different beliefs than them, then knowledge, then false beliefs
In collectivist cultures what comes first in ToM development?
understand knowledge access more (knows someone else would know other things than them)
Can we develop ToM earlier than 4?
-possibly -maybe tasks are too hard - plot lines, diff characters, objects, have to inhibits own thoughts, verbal, lots of questions - executive functions are underdeveloped
(later it says yes)
What is the pattern for implicit intergroup preferences?
- present in adultlike levels in childhood
1) rapidly emerging implicit preferences for ingroups and dominant groups
2) stability of these preferences across development
What is implicit social cognition?
- thoughts & feelings operate outside of conscious awareness & control
- attitudes, stereotypes, and group identities
What is assumed about implicit bias?
!
- that is is result of slow-learning process -regularities in the world - gradual -based on experiences
- but no -it’s early & stable -remains constant -so outside of cultural climate
Why/how does implicit ingroup preference start?
- infancy - survival -prefer faces & attractiveness -innate -prefer primary caregiver and primary language -& racial ingroup members -learned right away (is diff if exposed early on to many racial faces etc)
- both innate & early experience
- seems it begins the moment ingroup-outgroup contrast is acquired
who has most robust implicit bias preference for their ingroup?
-kids from socially advantaged/dominant racial ingroups
What is explicit intergroup preference?
!
- verbal negative attitudes & stereotypes
- attitudes a person consciously endorses & can report
At what age do kids start being explicit w/ intergroup preference?
-in US & UK age 4
Is explicit intergroup preference stable? Why?
- no declines over time
- maybe egocentrism wanes or explicit teachings/moral principles
Do adults of non-dominant groups have implicit ingroup bias?
!
- could have had initial preference but then internalized social views (opposite) -so have weak to no implicit ingroup bias
- (when compared to white/dominant group)
Do hispanic children have ingroup preference?
-had no ingroup preference when compared to white (b/c social hierarchy conflicts it) -but when compared to black (ingroup preference & social hierarchy align) they did have ingroup preference
In adults what does implicit intergroup preferences predict? & how can you combat it?
- fear-potentiation response to members of social outgroups
- attenuated by high quality contact (especially romantic)
Is slow learning of environmental regularities for implicit supported?
no
Why do we have these preferences?
-evluating groups helps survival and tracks social coalitions -happens fast b/c decisions have to be made fast
At what age do kids start reasoning about others mental states?
- some evidence for age 2 -desires/wants
- ex. broccoli-goldfish study
What is the broccoli-gold fish study?
-share w/ someone if they have same desires or different - at 14 months share in line w/ own desires (assume you want the goldfish) - but at 18 months (or around 2) give in line w/ what the other wants
Do infants understand false beliefs?
- looking tim e
- at 15 months looked longer when they thought the researcher would reach for where they’d put it before leaving the room
- but controversial study -wasn’t repeatable
Which two ToM theories are nurture focused?
- theory theory
- simulation theory
Which two ToM theories are nature based explanations?
- Modular Theory
- last theory
What is Modular theory?
- innate structures in our brain relating to ToM - biological maturation
- right temporo-parietal junction
- but many other parts are also used
When does the TPJ start relating to ToM?
age 4
What is the last ToM theory?
-executive functions -inhibit & control yourself, wait your turn, think ahead, pay attention - frontal lobe - have to wait for it to develop & is first to deteriorate -hard to inhibit owns thoughts when young because executive functions are udnerdeveloped
What is race?
- socially constructed
- but is meaningful
How do infants respond to race?
- perceptual category
- don’t know the social construct
When do kids start explicitly categorizing race & can say that it is stable?
3-6 years old
What is the ‘switched at birth’ task?
- black baby & white baby switch families - when they grow up what will they look like
- 4-5 say nature - 3 years old all over the place
What is essentialism in race? When do you understand it?
- adults understand it’s deeper part of identity -essential to who you are
- some say 7-10 others say adulthood
Explicit attitudes in marginalized groups? Study?
- marginalized groups have outgroup positivity not an ingroup preference - but decreases over time (explicit)
- black children explicit racial attitudes
- Clarks Doll Study 1947
- looked at black children -gave positive & negative labels - were positive towards white doll & negative towards black
How can implicit preferences be reduced for adults? And is the same true for kids?
- exposure to positive black exemplars (though marginal) -direct & indirect
- yes for kids age 10, not age 7
Summarize Gonzalez, Steele, & Baron - reducing children’s implicit racial bias through exposure to positive out-group exemplars
- 339 caucasian & asian children - pro-white bias can be reduced for 10 year olds - implicit bias
- have implicit racial bias by age 5
- white exemplars, counterstereotypical black, and flowers (control group)
- then IAT - exposing white & asian children to counter stereotypical black exemplars can successfully reduce implicit bias among older (10) not younger (7) children
- maybe curvilinear - has cognitive flexibility but still malleable -or maybe just easier for them to understand task -younger privileges other categories over race (ex. gender)
- didn’t prove if long-term change or if it was particularly effective
What is the IAT test?
!
- Implicit-Associations test
- black & white faces - good and bad words - how fast are you
- if white bias - faster at hitting the button when it pairs white and good or black and bad
- group measurement
What are dominant groups explicit attitudes?
- ingroup positivity (I like my group)
- outgroup negativity (I don’t like others)
When showing a white kid a photo of a white & black kid & asked who do you want to be friends with - what age said what?
- aged 6 all want to be friends with white kid
- decreases at age 10, and over time
- explicit
Why do explicit attitudes decrease over time?
-maybe egocentrism - understand others point of views - society -moral
Which one is stable and doesn’t decrease over time? Explicit or implicit?
Implicit
Who is implicit stable for and why?
- white/domiannt groups
- because society says good, and have ingroup preference (inflates attitudes)
- for non-dominant groups - have ingroup preferences but then society says you’re bad, so back to 0
What was the LatinX vs. White/Black study?
- latinX didn’t have preference for white - or for latinx when compared
- but when compared to black had a LatinX preference
- society hierarchy either conflicts or inflates
How are social norms acquired?
- complicated -coming from everywhere for a long time
- peers, media, parents, racial makeup of school,
- authority figures!
What was the tshirt test & what did it say about preferences?
- randomly created red shirt & blue shirt group - 5 year olds - no explicit bias
- but had strong implicit bias - shows implicit bias can be unconscious, arbitrarily defined, and automatic
How to change bias?
- meaningful exposure - situations of equal status -humanize them -counterstereotypes (in the moment for older kids can combat)
- work in diverse groups, learn about cultures, tv shows showing positive counterstereotypes - but it’s not enough, not long lasting, and don’t know if it’s effective
ToM - what is perception-goal in infancy predict later competence in?
Belief-desire
What is the Dave study - skin colour & career?
-gave a picture of dave -black man -asked kids which one was him when he was younger - one was a white guy with same career - another was black with different career - 3-6 year olds got that skin colour was stable
