Theory of Mind Content

Who Conducted Sally-Anne Test? *marbles

*Baron-Cohen et al., 1985*

Who stated the Importance of Social Interaction & Language?

*Lewis & Carpenter*

Who coined 'Mind-Mindedness'?

*Meins et al., 2012*

Who came up with four reasons why Social Cognition is primarily social?

*Miller & Aloise-Young, 2017*

Who Conducted 15-Month-Olds Violation of Expectation Tasks? *watermelon boxes

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005*

Who Conducted Deceptive Task? *smarties

*Perner et al., 1987*

Who coined 'Egocentrism' and where is it seen?

*Piaget's* Stages of Development - Pre-Operational Stage

Who Conducted Maxi Test? *chocolate

*Wimmer & Perner., 1983*

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* Belief Induction Trial: False Belief Conditions

1: Actor not looking when watermelon moved, 2: Actor looking, watermelon moved, actor not looking, actor 2 moves back *actor has not seen so would not expect actor to know answer

Social Understanding in the Early Years: Brain Activity EEG

Ability to predict activity based on others belief at 6 months, *Onishi & Baillargeon* motor-cortex fires when predicting actor about to reach

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* Belief Induction Trial: True Belief Conditions

Actors face through stage: idea is infant can see actor can see - 1: Yellow box moves forward + back, 2: Actor 2 takes watermelon from green and puts in yellow *would expect actor to look in yellow as could see

Unexpected Transfer - *Baron-Cohen et al. (1985)* SALLY-ANNE: Marble

Anne puts marble in box, child believes Sally will look in box not basket even though has no way of knowing it was moved *story

Why more research to 'narrow down' age of understanding False Beliefs?

As children who get Theory of Mind faster more likely to be sociable and more clever

Next Stage of Social Cognition (potentially)

Biological Social Cognition - techniques in neuro-psych, see parts of brain associated with social cognition

Reasons for 'Social Cognition'

Both influence each other *relationships + interactions shaped by cognitive factors + processes, thoughts and understandings shaped by social factors + processes

Two Factors of Social Development

Changes in how children act in social environment AND how development is shaped by social atmosphere (how became socialise in rules + norms)

Deceptive Task - *Perner et al. (1987)* Smarties

Child knows not smarties in tube BUT when asked what friend/doll will think who has not seen contents, thinks will know no smarties *even though has no way of knowing

Social Category: social cognition primarily social, *Miller & Aloise-Young, 2017*

Children make assumptions based on social category e.g. group A runs, what will Brian who is in group A do?

Theory-Theory Approach - children understand others' ? before others' ?

Children understand others' 'wants' before others' 'beliefs' *desires THEN beliefs as can apply what know about desires to beliefs once understand what beliefs are

Example of Innate Module Account

Children when very young able to represent one object with another e.g. banana - phone

Evidence for Egocentrism

Egocentric Speech (collective monologues), Visual Perspective Taking (three mountains task), Mental Perspective Taking (Theory of Mind)

Examples of Social Development

Emotions, personality, communication + interaction, values, identity, gender, attachment etc.

*Vygotsky's* approach focused on...

Emphasised social world first, then (into) mind

Social Understanding in the Early Years: Understanding of Intention

Experimenter either teases with toy or drops toy, more upset when experimenter drops toy indicating understanding of intention

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* Test Trials

Half all children in each condition see actor going into green box, other half yellow *measure time looking (longer = more confused)

Social Outcomes: social cognition primarily social, *Miller & Aloise-Young, 2017*

How Theory of Mind leads to other factors e.g. leaders, peace makers etc. - is social as is important for social outcomes

Examples of Cognitive Development

How social, visual + physical info perceived, memory, reasoning, decision making etc.

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* Hypotheses

If infants understand false belief should expect actor to reach where watermelon believed to be, not where infant knows *if expectation violated, infant should look longer

*Piaget's* approach focused on...

Individualist-Cognitive Approach - mind first, then social world

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* Results

Infants expected actor to search in terms of where actor believed watermelon to be

Social-Cognitive Processes: social cognition primarily social, *Miller & Aloise-Young, 2017*

Internalisation of attachment - way in which decide to act on something basis of social-cognitive attachment, life etc.

Social Understanding in the Early Years: 'Moral' Distinctions

Judgements towards those with good/bad intentions - preference for 'good' people/shapes

Autistic Individuals...

Lack Theory of Mind *social aspect of autism

Importance of Social Interaction & Language

Learn about mental terms by mapping what's going on in mind e.g. feel desire, learn 'want' is the word for it *understand behaviour because in culture where intentions and beliefs being talked about (Vygotsky - culture becomes absorbed into mental)

Social Influences: social cognition primarily social, *Miller & Aloise-Young, 2017*

Look at role parents + peers play, mind-mindedness & attachment relationships, if parents act due to psych so will child - social influence on understanding understandings *more likely to believe people we trust

Influence of Relationships on Social Cognition

Mind-Mindedness: carers ability to correctly comment on child's internal state better predictor of attachment than general sensitivity *attachment relationships may scaffold understanding of mental states - child less likely to expect security if attachment not secure

Issues With the Social-Cognitive Balance

Most work emphasises cognitive aspects + minimises social *as to make sense of social information, need understanding about other's psychology thus cognitive

Unexpected Transfer - *Wimmer & Perner (1983)* MAXI: Chocolate

Moves chocolate when friend goes out to play, asked where friend will look for chocolate *child with no false-belief will say fridge instead of cupboard (where it was prior)

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* Info

Novel non-verbal task: violation of expectation, children understand false belief much earlier than previously stated *techniques of looking behaviour - if expectation violated, reaction seen

Theory of Mind enables us to...

Predict + explain what people are doing and why they are doing it *take for granted

Order of Theory of Mind Development

Recognising own mental states, then others, then realising others different from theirs *notice what other's goals are THEN understand behaviour in terms of reaching goal (e.g. coffee line)

Two Styles of Development Which Intertwine to Allow For Theory of Mind

Social Development & Cognitive Development (Social Cognition)

Four reasons why Social Cognition is primarily social *Miller & Aloise-Young, 2017*

Social Influences (role of parents + peers, understanding understandings), Social Content (social category), Social-Cognitive Processes (attachments) & Social Outcomes

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* Criticism

Some deny cognitive element - basic association between agent and place OR innate ability?

*Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* Suggestions

Suggests already hold (rudimentary + implicit) representational Theory of Mind *others act on basis of beliefs that may or may not mirror reality

Theory-Theory Approach

Theory of Mind develops in same way as theory - start to understand mental states e.g. 'I have a belief', theorise 'maybe other people have beliefs', go to find evidence to support theory *theory changes + develops as result of experience

Deceptive Tasks + Unexpected Transfer all prove...

Theory of Mind doesn't emerge until four years old (as can have false beliefs *Wimmer & Perner, 2983*)

Simulation Theory

Theory of Mind involves flexibility in imagination - to put oneself in other person's shoes and reason accordingly

Three Theories on Why/How Theory of Mind Emerges at 4 Years

Theory-Theory Approach, Innate Module Account & Simulation Theory

Task to Indicate Differences in Visual Perspective Taking

Three Mountains Task - fail to identify what doll would see because egocentric, older children understand

Issues *Onishi & Baillargeon, 2005* gave for previous False Belief testing

To take part child needs ability to speak/have understanding of language + cause and effect, have to sit and comprehend story

Mind-Mindedness *Meins et al., 2012*

Treating infants as having a mind of their own *attributing meaning to non-word utterances and commenting (correctly) on infants internal states

Three Newer Methods looking at Social Understanding in the Early Years

Understanding of Intention (teasing w/ toy), Brain Activity = Prediction (motor-cortex fires when reaching for box), 'Moral' Distinctions (preference for 'good' people/shapes)

Theory of Mind

Understanding others have desires, beliefs, knowledge, thoughts + interpretations of the world different from one's own & applying this in order to make inferences about others' behaviour

Core Social-Cognitive Skill

Understanding the mind and behaviour of oneself + others (Theory of Mind)

Innate Module Account

We are born with the capacity to understand mental states - when very young able to replace obj. with similar (banana - phone), evidence of process enabling understanding between real and pretend *BUT no developed info processing capacities - not sophisticated enough to grasp concept of others' minds vs. own