the ontogeny of mentalising: first steps on the road to other minds

1. the ontogeny of mentalising:first steps on the road to other minds • dr fenja ziegler c82 sad lecture 2

2. the princess bride • cognition in action

3. how do I know whether you know what I know and you know that I know, if you know what I mean... • how can we tell whether someone has a ToM? • assumption that people: • carry out actions to satisfy desires • based on supposition that beliefs are true • is understanding and predicting that action enough evidence for ToM? • True Belief or False Belief? • FB: methodological and theoretical advantages Daniel Dennett

4. unexpected transfer - or Maxi - task while Maxi is out playing, his Mum takes the chocolate from the cupboard and grates some of it into a cake. Maxi is returning from play, feeling hungry. He wants his chocolate. Where will Maxi look for his chocolate? Where did Maxi put his chocolate? Where did Mum put his chocolate

5. unexpected transfer - or Maxi - task Test: Where will Maxi look for his chocolate? Memory: Where did Maxi put his chocolate? Reality: Where did Mum put his chocolate

6. what do Maxi and chocolate tell us about the mind? • litmus test for understanding the mind (evidence of ToM) • the mind as an interpreter of reality • do not act on reality • but on what we believe reality to be • 4 but not 3 year olds pass the test

7. appearance ... reality • Flavell et al. 1983 What does it look like? What is it really?

8. a smartie for the smarties task

9. deceptive box test • Perner et al. (1997) • What is inside this tube? • What is in it? • What will your friend xxx say is inside? • Gopnik and Astington (1988) • When you first saw this tube, before we opened it, what did you think was inside?

10. perhaps it tells us nothing........ lack of story comprehension....

11. do we KNOW that 3 year olds don’t have ToM? before 2005 • lack of positive evidence • problem with language? • time reference • test question (Siegal & Beattie, 1991) • story comprehension (Lewis et al. 1994) • have children been underestimated? • but what about the Deceptive box?

12. state change Wimmer & Hartl, 1991 When you first saw this what (did you think) was inside?

13. are children really just answering “what was inside?” What’s inside this tube? What is it? I’ve taken away the toothbrush and put a pencil in the tube When you first saw this tube, before we opened it, what was inside? When you first saw this tube, before we opened it, what did you think was inside?

14. When you first saw this tube, before we opened it, what was inside? When you first saw this tube, before we opened it, what did you think was inside? What’s inside this tube? What is it? I’ve taken away the toothbrush and put a pencil in the tube if questions treated same: report toothbrush, but report pencil sensitive to distinction: correctly report first content

15. break &announcements

16. 2005

17. 2005

18. 2005

19. 15 months (!) olds have FB understanding 2005

20. if 15 months can do it, sure adults can... Keysar et al. 2003

21. curse of knowledge Mitchell, Robinson, Isaacs, and Nye (1996)

22. curse of knowledge Mitchell, Robinson, Isaacs, and Nye (1996) Actually, in Kevin’s absence and unknown to him she did replace the juice with milk.

23. curse of knowledge Mitchell, Robinson, Isaacs, and Nye (1996) Actually, in Kevin’s absence and unknown to him she did replace the juice with milk. Fischhoff, 1975

24. Is belief reasoning automatic? Figure 1. Schematic event sequence for experimental video trials with BELIEF / REALITY probes. 1. Woman looks in open boxes (so gains true belief about object’s location). 2. Woman places marker to indicate location of object, then leaves room. 3. Man swaps boxes (so woman has false belief). 4. Probe sentence. 5. Woman returns and change in frame of video prompts subject to point to box containing object (Conditions 1 and 2 only)

25. Is belief reasoning automatic? no

26. mentalising = beliefs? • focus on beliefs • what about: • goals • intentions • desires • perceptual states • emotional states • etc....

27. mentalising = beliefs? go come Ziegler et al. 2005

28. mentalising = beliefs? spontaneous perspective taking go come Ziegler et al. 2005

29. can we make sense of this? • children can pass FB test age 4, but not before (see Wellman, Cross & Watson, 2001) • children aged 15 months show non-verbal FB understanding • adults are not as good at mentalising as we might assume • belief attribution is not automatic • perspective taking is spontaneous

30. selected key references • Apperly, I.A., Riggs, K.J., Simpson, A., Samson, D., & Chiavarino, C. (2006). Psychological Science.17(10) 841-844 • Gopnik, A., & Astington, J.W. (1988). Child Development, 59, 26-37. • Keysar, B., Lin, S.& Barr, D. J. (2003). Cognition, 89, 25-41. • Mitchell, P., & Ziegler, F. (2007). Fundamentals of Development: The Psychology of Childhood. Hove: Psychology Press. • Onishi, K., & Baillargeon, R. (2005). Science, 308, 255-258. • Perner, J., Leekam, S. R., & Wimmer, H. (1987). British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 5, 125-137. • Wimmer, H., & Perner, J. (1983). Cognition, 13(1), 103-128. • Ziegler, F., Currie, G., & Mitchell, P. (2005) Developmental Psychology, 41(1), 115-123.