The Test of False Belief and the Theory of Mind - St Benedict's ...

There are many types of false belief tasks and they all seek to determine whether an individual is able to attribute false beliefs to others. The first test of ... 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TheTestofFalseBeliefandtheTheoryofMindHomeNewsBlogs AlevelPsychologystudent,JoeMcDonald,asks,HowvalidistheTestofFalseBeliefinmeasuringthedevelopmentofTheoryofMind?   Thetestoffalsebeliefisataskthatiscommonlyusedinthestudyofdevelopmentofthetheoryofmind.Theoryofmindistheabilitytoattributementalstatessuchasbeliefs,emotions,intents,andmore,toyourselforothers.Researchintothisareabeganwithtryingtofindoutifchimpanzeeshaveatheoryofmind.Socialproblemswerepresentedtothechimpsandtheyweregivenanopportunitytosolvethem(whichtheydid).Thisthenprogressedtoaskingthequestion:atwhatagedochildrenobtaintheoryofmind?Totestfortheoryofmindinchildrenthetestoffalsebeliefwascreatedbecauseitwassimple,easilyrepeatableandsupposedlyproducedvalidresults.InthecontextofthisessayIwillbeusingvalidityasameasurementofhowsuccessfulthetestoffalsebeliefisinmeasuringdevelopmentoftheoryofmind.   Therearemanytypesoffalsebelieftasksandtheyallseektodeterminewhetheranindividualisabletoattributefalsebeliefstoothers.ThefirsttestoffalsebeliefwascalledtheSally-Annetest.Thishasbeenthemostusedandinsomerespectsisthesimplestformoftest.ItwasimplementedbyBaron-Cohen,Leslieand Frith in1985.Thetestpresentsthechildwithacharacter,Sally,wholeavesadesirableobjectsuchaschocolateoraballinabasket,thenSallyleavesthescene.Inherabsence,anothercharacter,Anne,movestheobjectfromthebasketintoabox.ChildrenareaskedtopredictwhereSallywilllookfortheobjectwhenshereturns.Four-year-olds tendtopassthetest-correctlyattributingafalsebelieftoSallywhileyoungerchildrentendtofail.Sincethenmanydifferentformsofthefalsebelieftesthavebeenusedtodeterminewhetherindividualshavetheoryofmind.   Notalltestsproducesimilarresults.InthisessayIwillevaluatethedifferenttypesoffalsebelieftestandhowtheresultsdifferdependingonhowthetestispresented,whichwillcausethechildtousedifferentskillswhentakingthetest.Iwillalsoexplorethefactthatsomepeoplewithautismcanpassthetestdependingonthesituationwhenotherscan’t. Finally, Iwillcometotheconclusionthatsomeifnotalltestsoffalsebeliefshouldbeabandonedandasingle,universaltestshouldbeusedinsteadtoleadtomorevalidandrepresentativeresults.    Oneofthemostconfusingissueswiththesetestsishowchildrenhavepassedonetestbutfailedanother,forexampletheSally-Annetest(Baron-Cohen,Leslie, Frith 1985)wasusedtotestasampleofaround500children.These500childrenthentookamodifiedversionofthistest(Leslie, Frith 1989)whereactorswereusedinsteadofthestory.Around10%ofchildrensuccessfullyattributedafalsebelieftotheactorbutnottoSallywhentoldthestory.Thisisamassiveproblembecauseitleadstodifferentresults.So,whichsetofresultsaremorevalid?Dothesechildrenhaveatheoryofmind?Isitbecausetheyhaveaslightlylessdevelopedtheoryofmind?Aretheseresultsananomaly?Theansweriswedon’tknow,andperforminganothertestwouldonlyaddtotheconfusion.Similarly,the1985Sally-Annetestwasconductedonasampleofaround20015-18-year-olds;halfhadDown’sSyndromeandtheotherhalfwerediagnosedwithautism.(Itisnotclearwhetherthepeoplewithautismwereatasimilarplaceonthespectrum).Theresultsshowedthataround95%ofpeoplewithDown’sSyndromepassedthetestandonlyaround20%ofpeoplewithautismpassed.Wimmerand Weichbold (1994)suggestedthatthefactolderautisticchildrenfailed“speaksforthevalidityofthefalsebelieftask,sincesocialimpairmentisoneofthedefiningcharacteristicsofautism”.ButIthinkitalsohighlightsaweaknessinthetask.Normalthree-year-olds andolderchildrenwithautismbothfailthefalsebelieftask, but, simplyput,normalthree-year-olds arenothinglikeolderautisticchildren.Thethree-year-olds arestrongeratcommunicativeandlinguisticskills,andhavetheabilitytopretendandunderstandthe pretence ofothers.Ifeelthatitisasevereproblemforthetaskasitclassifiesthetwogroupstogetherasindividualswholacktheoryofmind.Also,anotherissueisthatthe20%raisedmanyquestionsbecausetheywerenotabletotellifthesepeoplehadatheoryofmindorguessedrandomlyandansweredcorrectly.   Sohowcanwedefinitivelyprovewhetherapersonhasatheoryofmind?Wellwecan’t;there’snowaytoproveifsomeonehasatheoryofmindbutifwewantthemostvalid results weneedatestingsystemthatisuniversal.   Anotherreasonwhythetestoffalsebeliefisnotvalidisthefactthatthereismoreatplaythanjusttheoryofmindwhentakingpartinthetest.As Dennet (1978)pointedoutwhenevaluatingthevalidityofusingfalsebelieftaskstodetermineifchimpanzeeshavetheoryofmind,PremackandWoodruff(1978),itisnotenoughtodemonstratethatindividualAcanpredicttheactionsofindividualB.Inmanycases,AcandosowithoutanunderstandingofB’smentalstate,butbyhavinganaccurateunderstandingoftheworld.Forexample,intheSally-Annetest,thechildcanpredictwhereSallywilllookwithoutthinkingabouthermentalstate.Amorerobusttestisneeded,onewhereinordertopassyouneedtopredictthe behaviour ofanotherpersonbasedonaninferredmentalstatethatdiffersfromreality.Thisway,itwouldshowthattheindividualunderstandsthatitisthementalstate,ratherthanthestateoftheworld,thatcausestheaction.     Anotherflawinthewaythetestiscarriedoutistheactualdeliveryofthetest.Ifthedeliveryofthetestisthroughacting,thenthechildrenwhoaremorevisuallearnerssurelyhaveanadvantageoverthechildrenwhoaremoreauditorylearnersorkinestheticlearners.Thiscouldalsobeareasonastowhychildrenhavepassedonetestandfailedanother.Thevisuallearnersinthesamplewouldfinditeasiertounderstandwhat’sgoingonandbeabletocompletethetaskmoreaccurately.Atestoffalsebeliefshouldnotbebiasedtowardsapercentageofthegroup:allparticipantsshouldhaveafairchanceofpassinginsteadofthetestplayingtosomechildren'sstrengths.Anotherreasonwhyauniversaltestwouldleadtomorevalidandcomparableresults.   Thereismoretotheoryofmindthanpassingthefalsebelieftest.AstudybyO’Neil(1996)observedthattwo-year-olds dohavetheabilitytomodifytheir behaviour inordertogetwhattheywant:thechildrenwereseatedinaroomandobservedatoytheywantedbeingplacedonahighshelf.Asthishappened,eachchild’sparentwaseitherpresentorabsent.Whenthechildaskedforhelplaterinretrievingthetoy,theyweremorelikelytonamethetoyandgesturetothelocationwhentheirparenthadnotbeenpresenttowitnesstheplacementofthetoy.Thisinitselfisaformoftheoryofmind:thechildrenknewthattheirmotherdidn’tknowwhatthetoywas,andwhereitwas,sotheychangedtheir behaviour accordingly.   Thefalsebelieftaskhasafewflawsthatcanleadtoresultsthatarenotentirelyvalid;however,Idonotbelieveitshouldbetotallyabandoned.Ifeelthatauniformtestshouldbecreatedoroneoftheexistingtestschosentobetheonlytestused.Thiswayit minimises biasandwillproduceresultsthatcanbecomparedtoothersfairly.Whilefailureinthefalsebelieftestmaynotproveanything,passingitdoes.   Aswellasameasurementofdevelopmentoftheoryofmind,itcanbeusedtodiagnoseandstudyolderchildrenandadultswithcognitiveandlinguisticimpairments.Also,thefactorsthatimproveordiminishperformanceonthetask(suchasvisualaids)canbeofusetoo.Theycouldhelpunderstandhowchildrencopewithmultiplerepresentations,andhowchildrenunderstandquestions.Thefalsebelieftaskisnotuselessbyanymeans.However,Ifeelthatitscurrentuseisnotadequateinordertomeasuretheoryofmindandproducemorevalidresults.Amorerobusttestisneeded.         Bibliography:      PremackandWoodruff(1978).DoestheChimpanzeehavetheoryofmind?PublishedonlinebyCambridgeUniversityPress:04February2010.Availablefrom: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/behavioral-and-brain-sciences/article/does-the-chimpanzeehave-a-theory-of-mind/1E96B02CD9850016B7C93BC6D2FEF1D0   Baron-CohenS,LeslieAM, Frith U.Doestheautisticchildhavea"theoryofmind"?. Cognition. 1985;21(1):37-46.doi:10.1016/0010-0277(85)90022-8Availablefrom: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2934210/      Perner,J., Frith,U.,Leslie,A.,& Leekam,S.(1989).ExplorationoftheAutisticChild'sTheoryofMind:Knowledge,Belief,andCommunication.ChildDevelopment,60(3),689-700.doi:10.2307/1130734.Availablefrom: https://www.jstor.org/stable/1130734?casa_token=9IcPbO489AgAAAAA%3An85CVMjDfVGZRBgnqC vmjnefAWBaU49ShBjydzv0tJUp4T4dmnV0lebGDw7PQkAZTs15AHYff7Qul99VbiBAu1N_PW353wmr4W3w5yWsjFXCbjfJjDs&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents      Wimmer,H.,& Weichbold,V.(1994).Children'stheoryofmind:Fodor'sheuristicsexamined.Cognition,53(1),45–57.Availablefrom: https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)90076-0   Dennett,Daniel.(1978).Beliefsaboutbeliefs[P&W,SR&B].BehavioralandBrainSciences.1.568–57010.1017/S0140525X00076664.Availablefrom: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/231855452_Beliefs_about_beliefs_PW_SRB   O’Neil(1996)Two-Year-OldChildren'sSensitivitytoaParent'sKnowledgeStateWhenMakingRequests.Availablefrom: https://srcd.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1996.tb01758.x      BloomandGerman(2000)Tworeasonstoabandonthefalsebelieftaskasatestoftheoryofmind.Availablefrom: https://minddevlab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/files/Two%20reasons%20to%20abandon%20the%20fal se%20belief%20task%20as%20a%20test%20of%20theory%20of%20mind.pdf   JosephMcDonaldhasanofferofaplacetoread PsychologywithCognitiveNeuroscienceatthe UniversityofNottingham.  Tagged senior  CookiePolicyThissiteusescookiestostoreinformationonyourcomputer.ClickhereformoreinformationAllowCookiesDenyCookies