In order to understand the false-belief task, we must first consider the concept of theory of mind. Premack and Woodruff (1978) as cited in Baron Cohen, Lesile and Frith (1985) defined 'theory of mind' as the "ability to assign mental states to oneself and to others". It is also the ability to make inferences about what other people believe and in a given situation allows individuals to predict how they may behave. False belief tasks were created in order to examine theory of mind and understanding that an individual’s belief or representation about the world may contrast with reality. It is a commonly used method to examine a theory of mind in children to gain an insight to a child's internal mental states. Theory of mind consists of two …show more content…
Firstly the task and actual construct itself may have issues. Chandler et al.,(1989) as cited in Mark, Jeannette & Valerie (n.d) argued that children may fail the false belief tasks, due to the tasks being too complex and unnatural. The author argued that false beliefs tasks also heavily relies on other cognitive abilities besides from thought processes such as language, working memory, and executive control. False belief tasks requires at a child to reason about a belief that is false which goes completely against the concept of beliefs (Leslie, 1994 as cited in Bloom & German, 2000). Fodor, (1992) as cited in Bloom and German, (2000) stated that in order to pass the false belief task, the child has to override useful and simple heuristics such as "people will act in accord with their desires". Therefore false belief tasks as a whole may be intrinsically difficult as there is much consideration for other factors which all contribute to the measurements directly affecting pass rates. Other research has also suggested that the false belief paradigm has issues as the set age boundaries do not apply depending on the way the paradigm is presented. Buttelmann, Over, Carpenter, Tomasello (2014) conducted a study to examine whether infants around 18 months of age can pass a false belief task similar to the Smarties unexpected contents test. It was found in their paradigm, 66.7% of the infants …show more content…
Firstly autism can cause children to fail false belief tasks even when reaching the average passing age (4 years of age). Autism is described as an impairment in verbal and nonverbal communication. Such impairment is part of the core features of childhood autism which can affect understanding and coping with the social environment regardless of IQ (American Psychiatric Association, 1980; Kanner, 1943; Ritvo & Freeman, 1978; Rutter, 1978 as cited in Baron-Chon, Leslie & Frith, 1985). Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (1988) as cited Chari (2002) suggested that social functioning, communication and imaginative play all contribute to theory of mind. Due to an impairment in these three areas, there is an inability to acquire theory of mind leading to autistic children to fail in the false belief task. It is highly important for children to understand mental states such as beliefs and desires as they are essential in predicting other people’s behaviour. Baron-Cohen, Leslie and Frith (1985) found that the pass rates for 'normal' children and those who suffered from Down's Syndrome had respective pass rates of 85% and 86%. However autistic children had only a 20% pass rate for the false belief task despite having the mental age of four and over. The authors concluded that the autistic children did not understand the difference between their own
Ramachandran, Vilayanur S., and Lindsay S. Oberman. "Broken Mirrors: A Theory of Autism." Scientific American Journal. (2006): 62-69. Web. 29 Nov. 2013.
Part of the disruption in communication and social interaction that occurs with many individuals who have autism can be better explained by the Theory of Mind and Executive Function Theory. These two theories are very similar in nature in that they both place great emphasis on the executive function of the mind. Executive functions are “cognitive abilities that appear to depend on the prefrontal cortex” of the brain (Pinel, 2014, p. 349). Executive function also encompasses “innovative thinking, lateral thinking, insightful thinking, and assimilating new information to update plans and strategies” (Pinel, 2014, p. 349). This is significant because the executive function of the brain can impact one’s ability to empathize and relate to others, interpret and sustain social interactions, and process new information (Williams et al, 2014). Many times individuals with autism are unable to understand and process what others are feeling. For example, they can recognize sadness or when somebody is crying, but they do not associate with it. It’s not that they don’t feel these emotions themselves, they absolutely do. However, they may have trouble connecting and relating to those feelings when they see somebody else experiencing them. This can result in difficulty in making and sustaining relationships with
Cognitive challenges also exist when counseling children with ASD as they have difficulty distinguishing their own mind from somebody else’s, this is known as theory of mind (Woods et al., 2013). Counselors should address deficiencies in theory of mind as the lack of knowledge in others feelings and empathy causes challenges across all social contexts for children. While there are a numerous factors to consider when providing therapy for children with ASD, therapeutic interventions are crucial to the development of social skills as well as adaptive emotional and behavioral responses in social settings.
Klin, Ami, Warren Jones, Robert Schultz and Fred Volkmar. “The Enactive Mind, or from Actions to Cognition: Lessons from Autism.” Philosophical Transactions: Biological Sciences 358.1430, Autism: Mind and Brain. Feb. (2003): 345-360. Jstor. Web. 15 November 2011. .
theory of mind: A longitudinal study of syntax, semantics, working memory and false belief. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 23, 117–141.
In William James’s “Will to Believe,” there is a strong focus on amending William K Clifford’s argument surrounding the belief. According to Clifford, belief is completely reliant on evidence. Not only is it completely reliant on evidence but on “sufficient” evidence. James quoted Clifford’s summary of belief in section 2, stating that “it is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” While James showed clear disagreement in Clifford’s assertion, his focus in defending the will to believe centered more on providing the individual with options while recommending the “genuine option” in terms of their will to believe.
De Martino, B., Harrison, N. A., Knafo, S., Bird, G., & Dolan, R. J. (2008). Explaining enhanced logical consistency during decision making in autism. Journal of Neuroscience, 28, 10746-10750.
“Where could anybody be without organizing their own thoughts”(Slater 1)? Imagine living in a world where one could not communicate with anyone around them on a truly rational level, even though the individual is completely rational. Imagine feeling so frightened by life, that one escapes to an Alternate reality, where they become catatonic, or even take on forms of different personalities to deal with everyday situations. Try not being able to communicate through one’s own words, only repeating what others have said in order to get along in life. This is what living with Autism is like. Autism, through the book definition is a “complex developmental disability…that appears during the first three years of life…the result of a neurological disorder that affects the brain.”(ASOA 1). Autism is often accompanied by Multiple Personality Disorder, which helps the person escape to a world, or situation where they can feel, “so called” normal. Multiple Personality Disorder is curable, and Autism is treatable, so with counseling and socialization with others, patients can be functiong members of society. Both disorders have to be treated, and worked at which is a form of re-socialization.
The False Memory Task begins by giving examples of how memory of events can be incorrect, although we might not be aware of it. The goal of this task is to clearly show how easy it is for our memories to have false information. We are often convinced that our memories are correct, especially when they seem to be logical and contain a lot of detail. However, errors in memory are easily made and far more frequent than the majority of people realize. This ZAPS experiment approaches false memory errors in a way where it is easy to point out, and create, false memories.
Björklund, D. F. (2012). Children‘s thinking: Cognitive development and individual differences (5th Ed.). Belmont: Wadsworth.
Admittedly, when I first chose to explore autism, I figured it would be an easier psychological issue to discuss than bi-polar disorder or schizophrenia. Only after researching autism for an hour or so, I quickly realized this was not the case. Autism may very well be one of the most complex and examined disorders, for it’s a disorder that stirs up tons of questions yet yields very few answers. So what exactly is it? What are the causes and symptoms? Is there a cure? How many people are affected by autism? Is it being properly portrayed in mainstream media? In this paper, I’ll do my very best to touch on these questions and hopefully leave the ones reading with a better understanding of this disorder.
Children with autism have multiple characteristic impairments in their social interaction skills. This results from the lack of “Theory of Mind” in autistic individuals. Autistic children have difficulty interpreting what another person may be thinking or feeling. Social impairments may cause the child to act inappropriately in social interactions and prevent the children from truly taking part in interactions. The children have difficulty recognizing social cues and responding to cues. Autistic children have a hard time forming relationships as a result of these impairments. Social stories, Applied Behavior Analysis, and Pivotal Response Training are three therapy techniques that help children with autism learn appropriate social behavior. Social stories allow the children to practice the situation in a lower stress environment. Applied Behavior Analysis utilizes positive reinforce to teach desired skills. Pivotal Response Training allows the child to learn social skills while in a natural play environment. Learning social skills through these techniques enable the children to have more meaningful relationships and engage more in their community.
Describe what evolutionary psychologists mean when they employ the term ‘theory of mind’. Use examples and research studies from Book 1, Chapter 2 to show why this theory is important in evolutionary psychology.
Leslie, A. M. 1987. Pretense and representation: The origins of" theory of mind.” Psychological review, 94 (4), p. 412
Andrews, K. (2002). Interpreting autism: a critique of Davidson on thought and language. Philosophical Psychology, 15(3). Retrieved from: