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Theory of mind (Autism (neurodevelopmental condition: difficulties with…
Theory of mind
Autism
neurodevelopmental condition: difficulties with social communication and learning, it is a spectrum condition
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Baron-Cohen: compared to 23/27 typical kids, only 4/20 autistic passed Sally-Anne task
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not all characteristics of autism can be explained by lack of ToM: restricted/repetitive interests, superior visual skills.
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perhaps they can learn to have ToM but their strategies are different than a typical person: e.g. use person-place associations to work out Happe
find false belief tasks harder than: recognising diverse beliefs/desires, recognising people's access to knowledge & hidden emotions
When does it develop?
False belief tasks show: 4 year olds have ToM: Wellman meta-analysis: 20% 2 yrs, 50% 3.5yrs, 75% 4.5 yrs.
Could it develop earlier than this? Explicit v implicit may be different & can be measured differently.
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18months: Repacholi broccoli task: understand that others have different desires/preferences than self
Deception: children can instil false beliefs in others as early as age 2yrs! 'hide and seek' puppet task by Chandler et al (%s 2yrs -4yrs)
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destroy evidence And false trails: 50% for both 2&4yrs, 3yrs only 25%??????
What is it?
Premack & Woodruff: ability to attribute mental states to self and to others... they came up with the phrase.
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Why is it important? in order to process information and understand other peoples' thoughts/feelings/beliefs.
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'2nd order ToM': meta-cognitive ability: understanding that what someone thinks someone else thinks may be incorrect! #inception
Who/what affects it?
Siblings: Perner more siblings = better ToM IF siblings are older & ppt is over 3yrs (Ruffman) & siblings are also children Peterson
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Mothers: Meins speaking to the baby as if the baby has agency e.g. "aren't you clever" etc increases child's ToM...
also Adrian: mental state talk positively correlates with ToM e.g. "are you sad?" "Susan is angry" etc
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Culture: Avis: 3.5yrs good at false belief in Cameroon... Callaghan found NO cultural diff in false belief tasks: all around age 4 yrs.
Criticisms
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e.g. working memory, verbal understanding, verbal responses
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arguably deception e.g. Sullivan Smarties deception task are better ways of measuring ToM as have less dependency on working memory (children are participating not just observing)
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How is it measured?
False belief tasks: 1st order: comprehending that someone else has different beliefs than yourself & believes something which is not true.
Unexpected transfer task: Wimmer Maxi task: mum moves chocolate in cupboard "where will Max look for the chocolate?"... also known as Sally-Anne task by Baron-Cohen
Unexpected content task: Perner Smarties task: "what is inside the box?" & "what would your friend think is inside the box?"
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ice cream story: 2nd order Perner &Wimmer: Park, House, church, Ice cream truck moves: Mary knows this and so does John but John doesn't know that Mary knows and therefore waits in the park instead of at the church
7yr olds understand that John's knowledge of what Mary knows is false- he doesn't know that she knows
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