Lecture 2 - Development ToM Flashcards
(57 cards)
What is the Theory of Mind
Insight people hold mental states and these govern behaviour (act according our perception reality)
Allows make sense social world - predict and explain
What is Desire-based ToM?
Desires are idiosyncratic (personal and subjective) constantly changing
Do children understand that other people may have desires that differ from theirs?
Repacholi and Gopbik 1997
18 month olds but not 14 month olds understood experimenters desired food differed from their own
Understanding desire is subjective mental state that differs from person to person
What is Belief Based ToM?
Distinction between mind and world
Requires notion person has representation of world, contents of which may be quite different from contents of world itself
Shift from situation based to representation based
What are false belief tasks
Test whether child can represent what another person believes in contrast to their own beliefs or reality
What is the FB Sally-Ann Task
One object is moved from one location to next without child watching
Sally puts ball in basket. Ann moves ball to box without Sally watching.
Child asked where Sally will look for ball
What is the consequence of the Sally-Ann task?
Child has to inhibit own knowledge of ball in box and understand their is a FB
What is the Maxi task of FB?
Maxi puts chocolate in his cupboard. Whilst he is out playing his mother puts it in fridge. Maxi comes back wanting his chocolate. Child asked where Maxi will look.
Results of Maxi FB task
Poor performance (failure understand FB) children under 5 years old
Who investigated the Smartie Task of FB?
Perner 1987
What is the smartie task of FB?
Child shown smarties tube. Guess what is inside
Then shown pencils inside
Pencils put back in and sealed
Then asked what their friend would think is in the smarties tube
Age 3 poor performance
What does Gopnik add to the Smartie Tube Test
Asked children when you first saw the tube what did you think was inside it
3-4 yrs old difficulty with this task
Can only consider current mental state not previous
Interpreting the findings of FB tasks
3 years old usually fail
4 years old usually pass
Around this age acquire ToM
Stage like development
Do FB tasks underestimate younger children’s ability?
Lack of story or question comprehension - question doesn’t make sense
Can younger children show better performance when tasks are simplified?
What happens when we clarify the test question for FB tasks
Siegel and Beattie 1991
“Where will Maxi look first of all?”
Performance improves at 3 years but not significantly
Who investigated the BIG DEBATE on development of children
Wellman at al 2001
Who are the 2 opposing sides of the BIG DEBATE
Boosters
Scoffers
What do the Boosters believe in the BIG DEBATE
Early onset view
Early competence masked by performance limitations
Task manipulations May enhance performance
3 year olds be able perform above Chance
What do the Scoffers believe in the BIG DEBATE
Delayed onset view
Conceptual change in understanding
Developmental change on FB tasks reflect genuine conceptual change
Task demands/processing limitations should not account completely for performance
Wellman, Cross and Watson 2001: meta analysis of 178 studies
Support substantial development over pre-school years
Below 3.5 years 80% incorrect systematically choosing own belief
4 years 50% correct
56 months 75% correct
What variables improved performance on Wellmans et al meta analysis
Deceptive motive
Active participation
Salience if mental state improve performance
Summary of Wellmans et al 2001 meta analysis
In line with conceptual change
In line with Scoffers account
Manipulating variables improved performance across all ages
None improved performance of 3 year olds above Chance
What 2 factors contribute to ToM development?
Social experience
Biological maturation
Outline social experience contributing to ToM development?
Aiding understanding mental states
Arises from interactions from other people
