Acquiring Theory of Mind

Question 1

Theory of Mind

Answer 1

The ability to think about other people’s mental states and form ‘theories’ of how they think

Question 2

False Belief Task

Answer 2

A child is presented with a scenario in which a second person does not have all the informations the child has
* The test probes the child’s understanding of how the second person should act based on their lack of information
- With ToM, children should understand the second person will act incorrectly bc they lack information
- Without ToM, children will think the second person’s actions will be based on the privileged information the child has

Question 3

False Belief Task

Sally-Anne Task

Answer 3

Unexpected transfer test
- False belief question → Where will Anne look for her chocolate?
- Error → Young children say in the fridge

Question 4

False Belief Task Implications

Answer 4

• 3 years: Children tend to fail these tasks
  
  • Cannot represent the knowledge of another person’s mind
• 4 - 5 years: Children tend to pass these tasks
  
  • Distinguish their knowledge and the knowledge another person would have

Question 5

What Does it Mean to Acquire Theory of Mind?

Answer 5

Children develop representational abilities to theorise about others’ minds
Children:
* Acquire the concept of meta-representations
- How we think about things in the world
* Have theories based on desires, which become theories based on beliefs and interpretations, which can be false

Children develop ability to simulate others’ minds
- Can imagine their own reactions, behaviours, and apply that simulation to predict how someone else might respond
- Children make mistakes answering questions about their own false beliefs

Question 6

Evidence Against A Conceptual Shift

Performance Issues

Answer 6

False belief tasks are binary, but longitudinal studies show more gradual changes
* 3-4 years: Children take longer to respond to false belief questions than questions about reality
- Are processing the questions, 3 yo are more prone to errors in responding

Question 7

Evidence Against A Conceptual Shift

Infant Competence

Onishi & Baillaregon (2005)

Answer 7

Do 15 month old infants understand false beliefs?
* Violation of Expectation
* Suggests infants have a representational Theory of Mind by 15 months

Question 8

Factors Affecting Development in Theory of Mind

Mind Mindedness

Answer 8

Parent’s ability to correctly use mental state language in relations to their infant’s mental states
* Mother’s mind mindedness at 6 months predicted child’s performcance on false belief task at 45 and 48 months
- Mother’s ability to interpret mental states must help infants learn to understand the beliefs of others

Question 9

Factors Affecting Development in Theory of Mind

Family Size

Answer 9

Performance may be related to:
* Number of siblings
* Quality of sibiling interactions

Children from Greek communities in Crete and Cyprus:
* Maximised range of family unit size and number of daily interactions with older family members
* Number of older siblings and adult relatives and the number of daily interactions predict success on false belief tasks
- Interactions provide opportunities to learn