Lifespan A: Children's understanding of others' mind, WEEK 6

Question 1

Theory of mind

Answer 1

• Capacity to attribute mental states (e.g desires, beliefs, knowledge) to others to predict/explain behaviour
• Mental states = things we cannot see so it is thought about in a theoretical sense (behaviour is caused by certain mental state)
• “Theory” of mind because we are assuming what is happening > way of explaining people’s behaviour
• Ability to recognise what other people may be thinking or feeling (responding appropriately is beyond ToM)

Question 2

Piaget on children’s social development

Answer 2

• Piaget investigated playground conversations + found they were commonly egocentric
• Egocentrism: child doesn’t take into account what the listener knows or doesn’t know > Pre-operational stage (2-7yrs)
• After age 7, child shows socialized speech > obs suggest children try take the view of others by imagining knowledge others have
• Domain general view of development > between 0-8 children cannot think about what others are thinking

Question 3

Piaget & Inhelder: mountain experiment

Answer 3

• Wanted to see if children between 3-8yrs could take the view of a character
• Use a doll + put them at the 4 different views of mountain, child is shown different pictures of the views + is asked what can the doll see?
• Results show children didn’t pass reliably until age 7-8 (concrete ops)
• Contradictory research by Donaldson + Hughes simplify this task where children were asked to hide burglar form police so police can’t see him (have to take view of police) > results show children between 3-5 could hide the burglar

Question 4

Criticism of Piaget: Wellman

Answer 4

• Problem w/ Piaget’s way of thinking is that it isn’t very social > Wellman believes using perspective taking in mountains task confounded ability to understand what other people were thinking w/ mental rotation
• Argues it is possible to pass task w/o taking the perspective by manipulating the space in mind (physical skill)

Question 5

Alternative argument: Meta-Representation

Answer 5

• Wellman argues the most important thing children had to do to understand someones mind is to represent that other people can have representation
• Represent = ability to hold an idea in mind
• Children have to recognise that other people can represent things + their view of the world can be different from yours
• Meta-representation > ability to represent different people have different views on the same thing
• Exists on different levels so we can have different beliefs about the same thing

Question 6

Concept for False-Belief task: Dennett (1978)

Answer 6

• At a Punch + Judy puppet show noticed the children there between 3-4 yrs could represent
• Punch put Judy in a box and left > Judy got out of the box and left but Punch came back thinking she was still there and opened the box > the kids were laughing consistently when there was a contrast between what Punch + Judy knew suggesting children can have ToM earlier than Piaget said
• Dennett came up with the concept for the false belief task

Question 7

The False-Belief Task: Wimmer & Perner (1983)

Answer 7

• Developed FB exp
• Children see a character put a toy in a basket the the character leaves
• Character’s friend comes + takes toy out of basket + puts in a box and closes it
• When the character returns, the child is asked where will he look for his toy? > distinction between what character knows + what we know
• Children who recognise the character has a different belief to us will say they look in the basket (pass test)
• Children who don’t recognise that we know differently from the character will say he looks in the box (fails test)

Question 8

Replication of False-Belief task: Perner et Al., (1987)

Answer 8

• Smarties task > show child smarties box + ask what do you think is in it? they respond w/ sweets > researcher opens the box + shows there aren’t sweets but there are pencils in the box > close box + say your mummy hasn’t seen what is inside, what will she think is in it?
• Distinction between what child knows and what mother knows
• Child recognising people have different knowledge will say she thinks there are smarties > if the child doesn’t recognise this they will say pencils

Question 9

Why do we ask children where the object really is, who put it there, and where was it at the start?
FB task

Answer 9

• To make sure the child has paid attention to story + followed it > control for them not understanding and failing bc of that
• Who put it there? checks their memory for sequence of events
• Where was it at the start? Checks memory
• Need to ask all these to truly assess their belief vs characters
• Working memory + language affects ability to follow the story

Question 10

Truth about False Belief

Answer 10

• Did meta-analysis + gathered data from 178 studies representing 4000 children from different countries to see when children pass this test
• Between ages of 36-60mo, children’s performance on the task increases from below chance levels to above chance levels
• There are variations in when kids understand beliefs different to theirs exist

Question 11

Why is mind reading important?

Answer 11

• Children w/ autism reliably do worse on measures of ToM than children w/o it > perhaps ToM deficits may be why children w/ autism struggle in certain social situations
• Adults w/ SZ struggle on tests of ToM
• Typically developing children > some are v good at the task while others aren’t > means a disorder isn’t necessary to be bad at ToM > we may just vary in how good we are
• Children better at mind reading in early childhood are 1.more likely to be called prosocial (likely to share/help)
  2. more likely to be rated as popular by peers
  3. More likely rated as socially competent at end of primary school by their teachers

Question 12

Nativist accounts

Answer 12

• Mind reading is an innate, domain specific skill
• Suggests we have specialised cognitive abilities allowing us to do this
• Leslie argues we are born w/ ToM module > born w/ a module which processes mental states > when we enter the world we track people’s eyes, facial exp
• Development occurs due to specialised modules (each capable of processing different types of mental states) which come up as we mature > born w/ modules which specialise as we grow + improves > no development of ToM, we are born with it

Question 13

Evidence for Nativist Theories

Answer 13

• Mind reading is universal > many cross-cultural studies have been completed + mind-reading is prevalent across species > although some children in certain countries get this earlier + others get it later but all cultures get it eventually
• Evolutionary argument > Baron-Cohen argues as social beings we need ToM to survive > apart of evolution
• Autism is a highly heritable + genetically predisposed condition > some argue this itself shows theory of mind is linked to genes + not EV

Question 14

Can infants reason about false belief?

Baillargeon task description

Answer 14

• Baillargeon said measures of ToM were too difficult > required working memory + language before the question could be answered
• Developed a non-verbal measure of ToM w/ violation of expectations with 15mo > minimal language skills
• Phase 1: Familiarisation task so child gets used to idea researcher has a toy which is put in a box then reached for after
  Phase 2: Belief-induction trial > infants split into 4 groups
  1st group: True belief green condition > actor sees toy move under green box
  2nd group: true belief yellow condition > toy moves to yellow box but actor sees
  3rd group: False belief green condition > actor sees toy put under green box, screen shut so actor can’t see and toy moves to yellow box
  4th group: False belief yellow condition > actor sees it is under yellow box but moves to green w/o being seen
  Phase 3: Children see something consistent/inconsistent w/ their knowledge

Question 15

Can infants reason about false belief?

Challenges to Baillargeon

Answer 15

• Children use simple behaviour rules so the actor should look where they last saw the toy > if they don’t the child looks longer than when it is knowledge consistent > e.g: if the actor believed it was in the green box but reached for yellow, infants looked longer > doesn’t measure mind reading
• Baillargeon argues the children could represent what the actor was thinking > suggests children at 15mo begin to reason others’ beliefs
• Children may have simple understanding (implicit) but is different to what is measured at 3-4 yrs old (explicit) > implicit knowledge cannot answer those questions
• Failure to replicate Baillargeon’s findings > unreliable?

Question 16

The “Theory” Theory of Theory of Mind:

Constructivist accounts

Answer 16

• Views child as little psychologist > sees things happening in surrounds + if it conflicts w/ what you think, scheme updates
• Children have basic abilities allowing them to reflect on + update knowledge
• Development of ToM is about updating your theory of mind
• Child’s “theory” of how mental state link w/ behaviour changes in response to transactions w/ EV
• Mind reading development viewed as a sequence of theoretical or conceptual changes
• Understand other people’s mind by going through a sequence of steps + mastering different concepts such as desires

Question 17

Progression of understanding mental concepts

Answer 17

• There is evidence of development contrasting nativist theories
• Children exhibit stable progressions from ages 2-6 in their understanding of different mental concepts
• Progresses from: diverse desires (wanting different things), diverse beliefs (different beliefs about same object), knowledge access (someone knowing something you don’t vice versa), false belief and belief-emotion
• Children move through a sequence + must build their ToM by understanding types of mental states

Question 18

Variation in mind-reading ability

Answer 18

• Children show individual differences in their ability to understand others’ minds > not all or nothing phenomenon
• Individual differences in mind-reading are stable over time + predicted by a wide range of cognitive + social factors+ linked w/ a range of social outcomes in childhood

Question 19

Explanation for individual differences in mind-reading

Answer 19

• ToM is reliant on understanding we can control our own thoughts + actions before thinking about thoughts of others
• Executive function make explain individual differences
• EF = higher order processes involved in the conscious control of thought + action > linked w/ functioning of pre-frontal cortex
• Components of EF include inhibitory control (ability to override impulse to do something), working memory and shifting (shift between activities easily)

Question 20

Measuring executive function

Answer 20

• Measure inhibitory control using games > e.g. whenever I say sad you point to happy sticker
• Measure shifting using organising cards > cards where there are some w/ same shape + others w/ different shape but same colour > match based on shapes then shift to match based on colour > looks at same object in different ways
• Commonly between both tasks from ages 2-6, performance improves
• Executive function develops around same time as ToM

Question 21

Executive function & Theory of Mind

Answer 21

• As EF + ToM develop together, they may have a connection
• Need to be able to understand own thoughts + EF tasks are good at testing this
• EF deficits along ToM deficits in ASD
• EF + ToM are correlated

Question 22

Meta analysis on relation between EF & ToM

Answer 22

• Data from 100 studies from kids between 2-6 to investigate correlation between EF + ToM
• Found moderate association between EF tasks + ToM tasks
• Effect remains moderate when outliers are removed + control for language ability or age
• EF helps us develop ToM (emergence view) > ToM helps us develop EF (meta-representation view)
• longitudinal studies support emergence view
• EF is necessary for ToM > need to control our own thoughts before thinking of others

Question 23

Necessary but not sufficient?

Answer 23

• Training by showing the task + giving feedback + control conditions to see if training ToM improved EF and vice versa
• Children in EF training = gains in false belief task (ToM) + EF
• But children in ToM training improved in false belief but also EF > there may be a directional association

Question 24

Social & cultural accounts of mindreading

Answer 24

• Argues learning ToM is similar to learning for print reading > we have to be taught by our culture > do this via everyday interactions
• Through these conversational experiences we compare out perspectives against other people > helps develop ToM

Question 25

Is mind-reading heritable?

Answer 25

Twin studies show how heritable ToM may be - Effect of additive genes reduce w/ age + effect of EV increases w/ age - Genes may be important initially in developing ToM but environmental experience may play a greater role w/ maturation

Question 26

Talking about mental states

Answer 26

- observational studies can show what experiences really matter - study this by recording lengthy conversations between parents + child > count amount of mental words used - Children engaged in more conversations about mental states outperformed their peers on false belief tasks

Question 27

Mind-mindedness

Answer 27

- Can also look at relationship between child + parent > quality of it - Mind-minded parenting > kind of parents see their child as an agent w/ their own thoughts, ideas + feelings - Mind-mindedness can be measured by observing parents + their non-verbal infants playing together + looking at parents description during play looking to see if it attributes to thoughts, desires or feelings of the child - Can also use a interview where we ask the parent to describe their child > count number of times the parent refers to the child as having their own thoughts + emotions + desires - Parents who aren't mind-minded would give a description of physical appearance etc

Question 28

Importance of family in mind-reading?

Answer 28

- Meta analysis examining relationship between parental mind-mindedness + parent mental state talk - There is a relationship between children's ToM and socio-economic status, family size, parental mental state talk + parental mind-mindedness - Supports that ToM may be influenced by social experience

Question 29

Evidence for environment in mind-reading

Answer 29

- Longitudinal evidence shows parents using lots of mental state words when their child is very young do better on ToM tasks later on - Long-term effects of mental state talk

Question 30

Can we train ToM by increasing amount of mental state talk?

Answer 30

- meta analysis on 32 training studies on how to do ToM tests including 1529 children - Between group effect: g= .75 > Within groups effect: g= .93 - Long sessions, short training periods = better effects - Can train ToM + improve it through feedback

Question 31

Is conversation enough to improve mind-reading?

Answer 31

- Intervention and control group > intervention group got daily stories followed by conversation about characters mental states while control group discussed events in story or features of characters - Mental state talk includes how did he feel? while talk about events was "what was he wearing?" - Mental state talk appears to predict the development of ToM but can be sufficient to increase child's ToM - Month later, the pre-test shows no difference in ToM, but 10 days after the month finishing testing, children in intervention group showed improved ToM more than control > 3 months later this remained consistent