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

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

minds

dr fenja ziegler c82 sad lecture 2

the princess bridecognition in action

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

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

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

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

appearance ... reality

• Flavell et al. 1983

What does it

look like?

What does it

look like?What is it

really?

What is it really?

a smartie for the smarties task

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?

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

before 2005

before 2005

do we KNOW that 3 year olds don’t have

ToM?• 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?

state change

Wimmer & Hartl, 1991

When you first saw this what (did you think) was inside?

When you first saw this what (did you think) was inside?

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?

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?

if questions treated same: report

toothbrush, but report

pencil

sensitive to distinction: correctly

report first content

break &announcements

20052005

20052005

20052005

2005200515 months (!)

olds have FB

understanding

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

curse of knowledgeMitchell, Robinson, Isaacs, and Nye (1996)

curse of knowledgeMitchell, Robinson, Isaacs, and Nye (1996)

Actually, in Kevin’s absence and unknown to

him she did replace the juice

with milk.

Actually, in Kevin’s absence and unknown to

him she did replace the juice

with milk.

Actually, in Kevin’s absence and unknown to

him she did replace the juice

with milk.

Actually, in Kevin’s absence and unknown to

him she did replace the juice

with milk.

curse of knowledgeMitchell, Robinson, Isaacs, and Nye (1996)

Fischhoff, 1975

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)

Is belief reasoning automatic?

nono

mentalising = beliefs?

• focus on beliefs

• what about:

• goals

• intentions

• desires

• perceptual states

• emotional states

• etc....

mentalising = beliefs?

come

go

Ziegler et al. 2005

mentalising = beliefs?

come

go

Ziegler et al. 2005

spontaneous

perspective taking

spontaneous

perspective taking

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

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.