Theory of Mind Flashcards
Social cognition is…..?
encoding
storage
retrieval
processing of info in the brain which RELATES to conspecifics
CONSPECIFIC
CONSPECIFIC
belonging to the same species ( animal or plant)
“the rabbit was isolated from male conspecifics”
social cognition is also ….
Intuition and assumption about a social situation.
Availability Hueristic
the human response that …
“If something can be recalled, it must be important”
e.g. the letter K - more times as the first letter or the third?
MELTZOFF and MOORE
1977 babies imitate facial expressions found that 12 to 21 DAY old babies Imitate facial and manual expressions. Piaget had thought facial imitation happened at 8 to 12 months.
1977 babies imitate facial expressions
MELTZOFF and MOORE
TRONICK et al
1975 - still face experiment - babies get upset when their mother puts on a still face.
1975 - still face experiment - babies get upset when their mother puts on a still face.
TRONICK et al
GIBSON + SORCE 1985
Social referencing using the visual cliff.
“how do we learn fear?”
babies are invited by a “scared” and a “Happy” mother to crawl across a glass screen over the VISUAL CLIFF.
babies don’t crawl for the scared mother but do crawl for the happy mother.
Babies look to their mothers for advice about situations. - social cue.
Social referencing using the visual cliff.
GIBSON + SORCE 1985
SCAIFE + BRUNER
1975 Joint attention - v important for development of social cognition.
most 8 to 10 month olds can “follow line of regard” and all 11 to 14 month olds can.
Identifying INTENTION
v important in language development
Joint attention
SCAIFE + BRUNER
Meta-representation
The ability to pretend and to understand pretence in others
generally developed during the second year of human life , perhaps earlier - earlier development of meta-representation skills has been linked to better peer relations and being more creative in later life.
The ability to pretend and to understand pretence in others
Meta-representation
Why is social cognition important.
Perspective taking
Empathy
Peer acceptance
Moral behaviour
Language + Communication
=====Decision Making
PEPa MLD
PEPa ML+c = D
Pepper Milked
Importance of social cognition.
Perspective taking
Empathy
Peer acceptance
Moral behaviour
Language + Communication
=====Decision Making
Second Order Theory of Mind
person A understands that
Person B can have a theory about
person C
WIMMER + PERNER
1983 - Maxi and the Chocolate
adult tells child ;
Maxi puts chic in blue cupboard, mother moves it to the green cupboard when maxi is NOT looking. Maxi comes back so where will he look ?
children Under the age of 4 tend to think in the green cupboard
by the age of five they understand its in the blue cupboard.
Maxi and the Chocolate
WIMMER + PERNER 1983
Appearance-Reality Tasks
eg. box of smarties is actuallyfull of crayons
show this to a child and ask what ANOTHER child would think were in the box.
Children around the age of 4 start to get the right answer.
BARON-COHEN et al 1985
Sally Anne task v similar to the Maxi task.
Crucial point discovered there; the wording of the question to
“Where is the first place sally will look”
this makes the younger , under 4 kids far more likely to get it right.
shows that subtle changes to experiments can get v different results.
also children have varying levels of verbal understanding.
sally anne task , designed to make it easier , showed that children have varying levels of understanding - we have to be skeptical about results.
BARON-COHEN et al 1985
Second Order Theory of Mind = researcher????
SULLIVAN et al (1994)
Three ways we understand Others Minds….
Theory of Mind - Comes from an ability to Meta-Represent the environment.
Simulation Theory - We simulate the situation in our own minds and decide how WE should react = = “what we ve seen our selves do in the past”
Mirror Neurons - Certain Neurons fire when an animal experiences AND Witnesses an activity.
