Theory of Mind

Question 1

What is Theory of Mind?

Answer 1

the ability to attribute mental states, knowledge, wishes, beliefs and feelings to oneself and others

Question 2

By what age are most children said to have developed a ToM?

Answer 2

6 years old

Question 3

how is ToM investigated?

Answer 3

false-belief tasks eg sally-anne

Question 4

what are some of the specific brain areas associated with ToM?

Answer 4

amygdala, basal ganglia

Question 5

what comes with the development of a ToM?

Answer 5

the ability to manipulate / deceive others by hiding your true emotions or intentions

Question 6

whats the name of the possible, more primative, version of ToM?

Answer 6

Shared Attention Mechanism (SAM) allowing 2 people to realise they’re witnessing the same thing

Question 7

how does Frith 1989 use ToM to explain autism?

Answer 7

he was the first to suggest children with autism may not be able to understand others (and maybe they themselves) have a mind.
he argued autism was associated with mind-blindness (an inability to understand what other people think/feel)

Question 8

how does Barsen-Cohen 1993 use ToM to explain autism?

Answer 8

ToM seemed to offer a reason as to why children with autism have problems seeing things from others perspectives, yet are unaffected in other areas of cognitive functioning.
explored the possibility of this in the Sally-Anne study

Question 9

how does Leslie 1987 use ToM to explain autism?

Answer 9

proposed the idea of a Theory of Mind Mechanism (ToMM) which saw ToM as an innate ability that biologically matures in children at about 2y’s, but psychological damage (either shortly before or directly after birth) hinders the development of the mechanism causing cognitive impairments

Question 10

research evidence for ToM

Answer 10

-Wimmer and Permer 1983
-Schatz et al 1983
-Bartsch and Wellman 1995
-Frith and Frith 1999

Question 11

briefly evaluate ToM

Answer 11

+appears in childhood but there is disagreement as to when
_lack of ToM is similar to Piaget’s egocentrism
+cross-cultural evidence suggests its biological (bartsch and wellman)
-younger kids may fail to understand false-belief tasks purely because they’re too complicated
-Bloom + German 2000 - false-belief requirements go beyond that of young children