Theory Of Mind

For many years, psychologists have been interested in the Theory of Mind (ToM) and its effects on non-human animals and also humans. Theory of Mind is referred to ‘the ability to attribute mental states – beliefs, knowledge, intentions, desires’ and so on. (Hewson et al, 2015) The Theory of Mind has been researched widely from many different psychologists, although ones mentioned in this essay are solely related to non-human animals. This essay will be describing research studies and explain how they have helped psychologists understand ToM.

One of the many research studies which addressed Theory of Mind in non-human animals is David Premack and Guy Woodruff’s 1978 study; ‘Does the chimpanzee have a Theory of Mind?’. Together, they were interested

The pair used various tests and procedures to see if chimpanzees were able to discriminate between humans who could and who couldn’t see them. The chimpanzees were placed in a scenario in which there would be a human facing them and a human with their back to the chimpanzee; the chimpanzees were more generally found to gesture towards the human facing it to grab their attention. Further tests found that chimpanzees didn’t act differently in further test conditions, even when the human’s vision was limited; for example, a bucket over the human’s head or their eyes being closed, whilst still facing the chimpanzee. (Povinelli and Eddy 1996) The pair concluded that chimpanzees showed little evidence in understanding visual concepts but showed that they can respond to ‘behavioural cues’ such as whether the human was facing towards or away from the chimpanzee in order to ‘select the human who is more likely to give them food’ (Hewson et al, 2016) but do not have ToM as they do not understand seeing as a mental state. More evidence suggests that chimpanzees understanding of mental states comes from the ‘food competition paradigm’ – ‘in chimpanzee’s natural environments, they are often in competition for food so it is suggested that the chimpanzees are showing a more natural behaviour

False belief studies have been an important factor with ToM since the Premack and Woodruff study, Dennett (1978) said that ‘being able to understand that another has a belief which is different than one’s own belief, and also can be different from reality would seem a good indication that an individual does understand mental states of others.’ To answer whether or not non-human animals have a Theory of Mind is a debatable subject as seen in this essay. Upon reading the first study performed by Premack and Woodruff it is clear to see that the chimpanzees do, in theory, have a Theory of Mind, they understood outcomes of certain behaviours and would know how to resolve is as seen with the chimpanzee knowing the human would have to move his box in order to reach the banana; although the behavioural rules also would fit the actions of the chimpanzees rather than having