Psychology Dictionary of ArgumentsHome
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| Theory of Mind: "Theory of Mind" (ToM), refers to the ability to be aware that other people or animals have their own thoughts, beliefs, intentions and emotions, which may differ from your own. It is about understanding that the mental states of others can influence their actions and decisions. The term comes from Daniel Dennett (Dennett, D. (1978). Beliefs about beliefs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 568-570). It has been further developed by many authors in psychology, including Premack, Woodruff, Perner and Baron-Cohen._____________Annotation: The above characterizations of concepts are neither definitions nor exhausting presentations of problems related to them. Instead, they are intended to give a short introduction to the contributions below. – Lexicon of Arguments. | |||
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Guy Woodruff on Theory of Mind - Dictionary of Arguments
Slater I 149 Theory of Mind/Premack/Woodruff: How does one demonstrate that an individual has the capacity to conceive mental states? As Dennett (1978)(1) pointed out, it is not enough to demonstrate that an individual can predict the actions of another individual, for in many cases, actions can be predicted by simply observing the actual state of the world. Solution: a decisive advance came from the field of animal behavior: Premack/Woodruff: (Premack and Woodruff 1978)(2) raised the question of whether chimpanzees are able to manipulate mental states and laid down precise concepts to answer their question. They defined “theory of mind” as a system of inferences that form the ability to impute mental states to oneself and others and that allow the individual to make predictions about the behavior of others. This characterization of the concept triggered intense debates and further empirical research among philosophers and developmental psychologists. >Autism/Baron/Cohen, >Theory of Mind/Dennett, >False-Belief Task/psychological theories. 1. Dennett, D. (1978). Beliefs about beliefs. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 568-570. 2. Premack, D., & Woodruff, G., “Does a chimpanzee have a theory of mind?”. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1, 1978, pp. 515-526 Coralie Chevallier, “Theory of Mind and Autism. Beyond Baron-Cohen et al’s. Sally-Anne Study”, in: Alan M. Slater and Paul C. Quinn (eds.) 2012. Developmental Psychology. Revisiting the Classic Studies. London: Sage Publications_____________Explanation of symbols: Roman numerals indicate the source, arabic numerals indicate the page number. The corresponding books are indicated on the right hand side. ((s)…): Comment by the sender of the contribution. Translations: Dictionary of Arguments The note [Concept/Author], [Author1]Vs[Author2] or [Author]Vs[term] resp. "problem:"/"solution:", "old:"/"new:" and "thesis:" is an addition from the Dictionary of Arguments. If a German edition is specified, the page numbers refer to this edition. |
Woodruff, Guy Slater I Alan M. Slater Paul C. Quinn Developmental Psychology. Revisiting the Classic Studies London 2012 |
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