ToM Flashcards
(32 cards)
What is theory of mind (ToM)?
The insight that people hold mental states (e.g., beliefs, desires, goals) and that these govern behaviour
- Allows us to make sense of the social world and predict/explain actions
What is desire-based ToM and when do children show it?
Understanding that people’s desires are subjective and may differ
- 18-month-olds (but not 14-month-olds) understand others can want something different
- Repacholi & Gopnik (1997) Broccoli/Crackers study
What is belief-based ToM?
Understanding that a person’s beliefs may differ from reality and from our own beliefs
- Shift from situation-based to representation-based understanding of behaviour
How can we tell if someone has ToM?
False belief (FB) tasks: tests if a child can represent what another person believes in contrast to their own beliefs or reality
What are classic false belief tasks?
Unexpected transfer/Maxi chocolate task (Wimmer & Perner, 1983); Sally-Ann task (Baron-Cohen, Leslie & Frith, 1985)
- Deceptive box/Smarties task (Perner et al., 1987; Gopnik & Astington, 1988)
Describe the Unexpected Transfer/Maxi task (Wimmer & Perner, 1983).
Maxi puts chocolate in a cupboard; while he’s away, Mum moves it
- Test: Where will Maxi look for his chocolate?
What are the key findings from the Maxi task?
> 5 yrs: judge Maxi will look where he put it (pass)
- <5 yrs: judge Maxi will look where it is now (fail)
Why is a false belief task better than a true belief task for testing ToM?
FB task tests if child can represent a belief that contrasts with their own/reality
- True belief: child and character’s beliefs match; less informative
What is the Deceptive Box/Smarties task?
Show child a Smarties tube with pencils inside
- Ask: What did you think was inside before we opened it? What will your friend think?
- 3-4yr olds struggle to acknowledge own/others’ false belief after seeing the true contents
How do 3- and 4-year-olds typically perform on FB tasks?
3-year-olds: usually fail
- 4-year-olds: usually pass
- Traditionally seen as a stage-like shift in ToM
Can simplifying the FB task improve younger children’s performance?
Simplification helps a bit (35-71% pass), but performance still below chance for most 3-year-olds
- Issues: language demands, story comprehension, temporal marking (Siegal & Beattie, 1991; Lewis et al., 1994)
What did Bartsch & Wellman (1995) find about ToM in natural conversation?
2y4m child spontaneously reflected on her own previous false belief in conversation
What did Wellman, Cross & Watson (2001) meta-analysis show?
Developmental effect over preschool years: <3.5yrs below chance; >4yrs above chance
- Task variables: deceptive motive, active participation, and mental state salience improve performance for all ages, but don’t selectively reveal hidden competence in younger children
- None of the variables improved 3yo performance above chance
What did Callaghan et al. (2005) find about cross-cultural universality in ToM development?
Similar developmental shift between 3 and 5 years in industrialized and rural societies
What factors contribute to ToM development?
Social experience (e.g., conversations, siblings, parental talk about mental states)
- Biological maturation/executive function development
How does experience contribute to ToM? (Harris, 1999)
Conversations expose children to perspectives, provide vocabulary for mental states
How do siblings and parental talk affect ToM?
Children with older siblings develop ToM earlier (Perner et al., 1994; Ruffman et al., 1998)
- Parental talk about mental states = earlier FB understanding (Dunn et al., 1991; Meins et al., 2002; Ruffman et al., 2002)
- Deaf children of hearing parents show ToM lag; those with signing parents are similar to hearing children (Peterson & Siegel, 1995/1999)
What is the Wellman & Liu (2004) ToM Scale?
Diverse Desires (DD): different desires
- Diverse Beliefs (DB): different beliefs
- Knowledge-Access (KA): knowledge vs ignorance
- False Belief (FB)
- Hidden Emotion (HE)
What cultural differences are there in ToM scale development? (Wellman et al., 2006)
Western: DD > DB > KA > FB > HE
- Chinese/Iranian: DD > KA > DB > FB > HE
- Thought to reflect cultural values (collectivism vs individualism)
What is executive function and how does it relate to ToM?
Domain-general cognitive abilities: inhibition, cognitive flexibility, working memory
- EF is needed to translate conceptual knowledge into successful action (Carlson & Moses, 2001; Grosse Wiesmann et al., 2016)
What are three primary executive functions?
Inhibition: ignore distractions, suppress prepotent response (Bear/Dragon task, Stroop)
- Cognitive flexibility: adapt to new situations/rules (Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, task-switching)
- Working memory: hold/manipulate info (digit span, spatial span)
Why are EF skills important for FB tasks?
Needed to:
1. Ignore distracting info
2. Suppress prepotent response
3. Use working memory
How does EF develop biologically?
Frontal lobes crucial for EF; slow to develop
- Inhibitory control improves between ages 3 and 6 (Diamond & Taylor, 1996)
What is the evidence for EF and ToM link?
Strong positive correlation between inhibitory control (Bear/Dragon) and FB performance
- Suggests IC and ToM develop together (Carlson & Moses, 2001; Grosse Wiesmann et al., 2016)
