Self and Others The Development of Social Cognition

Precursors to thinking about self and others 1.People are different from objects People look, act, are acted upon differently than objects 2.Self is different from others The development of self recognition

Self Recognition The ability to recognize oneself in an image How can we measure self recognition? Mirror recognition: months How can we experimentally test this? put a mark in the kids face Candid camera

Gallup’s Test of Mirror Recognition 1.Exposure to mirrors 2.While unaware, mark face with rouge 3.Exposure to mirror again 4.Do they touch face or mirror? TOUCH FACE Chimpanzees Orangutans Gorillas (maybe) 20 month old baby TOUCH MIRROR Baboons, monkeys Cats, dogs Elephants < 12 month old baby

Correlates of Self Recognition Self-Conscious Emotions –Embarrassment –Guilt –Pride Empathy

Understanding Self and Others: Developing a “Theory of Mind”

Theory of Mind: What is it? A folk theory about how mental states (beliefs, desires, intentions) guide behavior Useful for predicting behavior explaining behavior

Theory of Mind: What develops? Mental-Physical Distinction –Thoughts in the mind = things in the world Mind Causes Action –We act to fulfill our desires and beliefs Mind Represents Reality –Our beliefs about the world may be false

Mental-Physical Distinction (Wellman & Estes, 1986) Two Story Characters: One boy has a cookie One boy is thinking about a cookie Which cookie can be seen, touched, eaten, or shared with a friend? 3-year-olds: 75% correct things in the mind = things in the world

Mind Causes Action Around the ages of 2.5 to 3, children... Understand link between desire and action “Jane wants to take her kitten to school” (a) she finds her kitten(b) she finds a puppy goes to school keeps looking

Mind Represents Reality We act on the basis of our beliefs, even when those beliefs conflict with reality False-belief: A belief that conflicts with reality

Change-in-location False-belief Task Bert and Ernie are playing ball Bert puts ball in GREEN box and leaves Ernie moves ball to ORANGE box Bert comes back…. Where will he look for the ball?

3-year-olds FAIL Bert will search where the ball really is 4-year-olds SUCCEED Bert will search where he thinks the ball is Is this task too hard? Two locations, two characters, lots of action Change-in-location Task: Results

Children shown highly familiar container e.g., crayon box Asked what they think is inside “Crayons!” The box is opened to reveal something else e.g., toy horse Horse is put back inside box; children are asked about a naïve character’s belief e.g., What does Grover think is inside the box? Do Children Understand False Beliefs?

3-year-olds FAIL Grover will think there is a horse in the box 4-year-olds SUCCEED Grover will think there are crayons in the box Unexpected Contents Task: Results

They fail even when: You ask about their own false belief You explicitly state the character’s false belief 3-year-olds’ Failure is Robust

Why do Children Fail? Conceptual Deficit –Fail to understand that the world can be one way and the mind can be another This should sound familiar….centration, egocentrism, appearance/reality….

Why do Children Fail? Inhibitory Demands –Hard to resist reporting what is known to be true –At same age as they fail false-belief tasks, children fail tasks of inhibitory control e.g., say “day” when shown a moon, say “night” when shown a sun “Day!” “Night!”

Role of Experience in ToM Conversations about mental states –Mothers’ mental-state talk (more talk, earlier use of mental-state terms) –Number of siblings (more sibs, earlier success on false-belief tasks)

Life without Theory of Mind? Autism Stereotyped, repetitive patterns of behavior Delayed and deviant language Impaired social development 75% mentally retarded

Cause of Autism? NOT due to parenting; social environment Biological evidence –Strong genetic component –Range of neurological impairments –Disproportionately affects boys

Social and communicative impairments of autism result from a failure to develop a theory of mind Theory of Mind Hypothesis for Autism

Theory of Mind Deficits in Autism Infant Precursors Not preferentially interested in faces Don’t prefer human speech over other sounds No joint attention, social referencing, proto-declarative pointing NOT TUNED INTO PEOPLE

Theory of Mind Deficits in Autism Failure to understand communicative intentions Poverty of mental state language Failure to understand false belief Inability to create meaningful mentalistic sequences

Mechanical Sequence Behavioral Sequence Mentalistic Sequence

self Self Concept: –Self recognition: that one in the mirror is me! Self evaluation: –Self worth, self esteem, self efficacy Self regulation: –Self control, resistance to temptation