Understanding%20of%20Others

1

• Understanding of Others
• Two Aspects of Self
• Public Self Self that others can see
• Private Self Inner, reflective self not
  available to others

2

• Why is understanding the distinction between the
  public and private self important?
• Awareness of private self implies an awareness of
  mental states such as desires and beliefs that
• Are not accessible to others
• Guide behavior
• Awareness of these mental states is critical for
  understanding others
• If you dont understand that others have mental
  states that guide their behavior, it is difficult
  to understand or predict their behavior

3

• As adults, we use our knowledge of mental states
  to understand human behavior
• Ex Why did Jimmy go to Billys house?
• Desires (He wanted to play with Billy)
• Beliefs (He thought Billy was at home)
• We assume that mental states such as desires and
  beliefs motivate action (behavior)

4

• These mental states are invisible
• Cant see a belief or a desire (or other mental
  states like intentions, feelings, etc.)
• So how do children develop an understanding of
  these invisible states and their influence on
  action?

5

• Development of a Theory of Mind
• Between 2 and 5 years, children construct a
  theory of mind (TOM)
• Theory of Mind
• A basic understanding of how the mind works and
  how it influences behavior
• Ex Desires and beliefs produce actions

6

• Between about 2 and 3 years, children
• Talk about mental states (e.g., feelings,
  desires)
• Understand that desires can influence actions
• Dont fully understand how beliefs can influence
  actions
• Seem to treat beliefs as accurate views of
  reality that everyone shares
• Do not understand that a person may act on a
  belief that is inaccurate

7

• False Belief Tasks
• Test a childs understanding that another
  persons behavior will be based on that persons
  belief, even if the belief is inaccurate
• 3-year-olds typically fail false belief tasks
• By age 5, children pass false belief tasks

8

• Exceptions
• Children with autism have great difficulty with
  false belief (and other similar) tasks
• Congenitally deaf children of hearing parents
  (late signers) also have difficulty with false
  belief tasks

9

• What Factors Influence TOM Development?
• Biological factors
• TOM as a product of evolution
• Adaptive to understand mental states such as
  beliefs and desiresmakes it possible to
  understand and predict others behavior
• TOM module Brain mechanism that makes it
  possible for children to acquire a theory of mind
  

10

• Social interaction is likely to contribute to the
  development of a TOM
• Pretend play Pretending to be someone one is
  not or pretending that an object is something
  else may foster understanding that beliefs may
  not always reflect reality
• Discussions with others about mental states such
  as desires, beliefs, etc.
• Mothers who talk more about mental states with
  young children have children who perform better
  on false belief tasks

11

• Late signers and autistic children may show delay
  in TOM development in part because of restricted
  access to social interaction (Peterson)

12

• Evidence that late signing and autistic children
  do better on TOM tasks involving pictures
• Petersons study
• Late signers and autistic children performed
  better on false drawing tasks than typical
  preschool age children
• Preschool age children performed better on false
  belief tasks than late signers and autistic
  children