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Understanding Social Cognition and Theory of Mind Development

Explore social cognition theories by Piaget and Vygotsky, the sense of self concept, ToM development, and its link to autism. Learn how testing is done and the impact on social interactions.

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Understanding Social Cognition and Theory of Mind Development

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  1. Development of Social Cognition Sense of self

  2. Learning objectives • To define what we mean by social cognition • To explain how we develop a sense of self and how this is tested • To apply “Theory of mind” to sense of self development

  3. So far we have looked at… • Theories of Cognitive development • Piaget • Vygotsky • Theories of Moral development • Kohlberg • Piaget

  4. Development of social cognition • The mental processes by which information concerning ourselves and others is understood • The understanding of information relating to others

  5. Sense of self • The ability to self-recognise • To know that we are separate from other people • This ability is needed for social interactions to occur

  6. Testing the sense of self • This is done using the “mirror test” – Lewis and Brooks-Gunn (1979) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8311498.stm Thought to develop between the age of 1 and 2 – by 21 months 70% of infants were touching the dot Main evaluation point – lack of language in small children, making conclusions difficult to arrive at

  7. Theory of Mind (ToM) • Until we have a sense of self, we cannot develop a theory of mind – this links to understanding others • ToM refers to the ability to understand our own thoughts and feelings and the thoughts and feelings of others. For example, understanding that a friend who is about to take an exam is feeling nervous even if we are not • We are putting ourselves in other peoples shoes – taking their perspective • Generally thought that children over 4 years of age possess a ToM

  8. Testing Theory of Mind… • False belief tasks: • Smarties tests • Sally-Ann Task https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41jSdOQQpv0 Watch the video clip and outline the methods of the two tasks in your booklets – make sure you include what the responses should be if a child does have theory of mind

  9. ToM and autism • Baron-Cohen et al (1985): • The Sally-Ann task was carried out on 61 children aged between 6 and 17 with matched mental ages • 20 autistic children, 14 with Down’s Syndrome, 27 normally developing children • Results showed that 85% of children who were normally developing and with Down’s Syndrome could correctly answer, showing they possessed ToM • Only 20% of autistic children answered correctly • Autistic children have difficulty putting themselves in someone else's shoes

  10. Linking sense of self, ToM and autism • Until we develop a sense of self we cannot develop a Theory of Mind or understand others. • Based on evidence by Baren-Cohen, it is thought that in autism, ToM fails to develop • Autism is therefore a creditable example of what might happen if the development of the self, and hence of Theory of Mind, goes wrong. • Main symptoms of autism – difficulty in social communication and interaction

  11. Evaluation of sense of self theory • Issues with research • IDA Complete the cut and stick to decide which points are limitations of research and which are related to IDA

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