Theory of Mind in Adolescence
, ToM – the capacity to attribute mental states (such as desires, beliefs, knowledge) to others in order
to predict or explain behaviour. Could be described as mentalising or as mind reading. Can also see
terms of related constructs such as empathy, social cognition, perspective taking.
It helps us to make sense of other people’s behaviour.
False-belief task – a character plays with a toy and hide it one location. They then leave the scene, a
friend comes, plays with it and puts it somewhere else and covers it up. We then ask the child where
the original character will look. A child that does not have ToM they will believe that the toy is in the
new location.
Wellman – meta-analysis of False belief task experiments. Looked to see where the chance of
passing the task goes above chance level – around 4 years old. The task is very developmentally
sensitive, can distinguish between preschool and 4yo. Also very reliable.
Accounts of ToM
Nativist accounts – ToM is something that we are born able to do. We inherit an innate module for
performing these tasks. As it is such as essential part of life that it must be bred into us as a species..
Key evidence – Baron-Cohen et al – ASD reliably fail on false belief tasks. If ASD is genetically based
then maybe ToM is linked to an innate capacity. Baillargeon – is there ToM before preschool age and
in infancy – developed a non-verbal task for infants. But a lot of controversy due to a lack of ability
to replicate the findings
Conceptual account – “theory” theory ToM. Children gradually learn and develop ToM through
interacting with the world. Children are experimenters. They have qualitative shifts in their
understanding of other’s minds and is a stage-like progression.
Performance/emergence accounts – ToM is related to language and executive function.
Performance theories – Language and executive functioning are not important to ToM but the types
of tasks that we use to study it requires those things, they are just correlated together. Emergence
theories – in order for ToM to develop, you need some basic linguistic and executive abilities.
Social Constructivist accounts – social interactions with other members of our culture is what we
need to develop ToM, it is constructed through social interaction with more skilled members.
Unanswered questions - if we focus too much on false belief tasks, are we ignoring other aspects of
ToM. Have little knowledge about ToM after childhood.
ToM matters as it has been implicated in psychopathologies such as ASD and schizophrenia. Those
that are better at ToM are more likely to be rated as prosocial and more likely to be rated as popular
by their peers and more likely to be rated as socially competent. False belief tasks has good
predictive validity.
, ToM – the capacity to attribute mental states (such as desires, beliefs, knowledge) to others in order
to predict or explain behaviour. Could be described as mentalising or as mind reading. Can also see
terms of related constructs such as empathy, social cognition, perspective taking.
It helps us to make sense of other people’s behaviour.
False-belief task – a character plays with a toy and hide it one location. They then leave the scene, a
friend comes, plays with it and puts it somewhere else and covers it up. We then ask the child where
the original character will look. A child that does not have ToM they will believe that the toy is in the
new location.
Wellman – meta-analysis of False belief task experiments. Looked to see where the chance of
passing the task goes above chance level – around 4 years old. The task is very developmentally
sensitive, can distinguish between preschool and 4yo. Also very reliable.
Accounts of ToM
Nativist accounts – ToM is something that we are born able to do. We inherit an innate module for
performing these tasks. As it is such as essential part of life that it must be bred into us as a species..
Key evidence – Baron-Cohen et al – ASD reliably fail on false belief tasks. If ASD is genetically based
then maybe ToM is linked to an innate capacity. Baillargeon – is there ToM before preschool age and
in infancy – developed a non-verbal task for infants. But a lot of controversy due to a lack of ability
to replicate the findings
Conceptual account – “theory” theory ToM. Children gradually learn and develop ToM through
interacting with the world. Children are experimenters. They have qualitative shifts in their
understanding of other’s minds and is a stage-like progression.
Performance/emergence accounts – ToM is related to language and executive function.
Performance theories – Language and executive functioning are not important to ToM but the types
of tasks that we use to study it requires those things, they are just correlated together. Emergence
theories – in order for ToM to develop, you need some basic linguistic and executive abilities.
Social Constructivist accounts – social interactions with other members of our culture is what we
need to develop ToM, it is constructed through social interaction with more skilled members.
Unanswered questions - if we focus too much on false belief tasks, are we ignoring other aspects of
ToM. Have little knowledge about ToM after childhood.
ToM matters as it has been implicated in psychopathologies such as ASD and schizophrenia. Those
that are better at ToM are more likely to be rated as prosocial and more likely to be rated as popular
by their peers and more likely to be rated as socially competent. False belief tasks has good
predictive validity.
