What is Theory of Mind?

The concept of?? Theory of mind?? Or abbreviated"ToM", refers to the ability of the human brain to predict and understand the cognition and behavior of others.

It is a heterometrocognitive ability, you break down the word below so you understand what it refers to:

• Hetero : It refers to another person, it would be the opposite of self, which indicates in ourselves.
• Metacognition : This word, used in the terminology of the psychological profession, refers to the reflection of our own thought processes. That is to say self-evaluate as we think, as we memorize, what strategies we use to perform some mental processes.

As far as heterometacognitiva refers to the reflection on the procedure of the way of thinking of others. That is, as the mind manages to know the contents of another mind different from ours.

The ToM is also known as social cognition, metalization, intuitive psychology or intentional behavior. There are functions associated with the theory with which humans are born, but other aspects of the theory develop with age.

The brain, in addition to many other functions, one of the ones that it possesses is the prediction, which helps us as a species to optimize time, to spend less energy, to survive and, above all, to reduce the uncertainty caused by the environment.

For example, Imagine that you are sleeping in bed and it is 4:00 a.m. Suddenly it sounds like the lock on the door of your house is forced, and then they open it, but you live alone. What do you think would happen next?

Surely your answer is related to that something unpleasant is going to happen.

This means that your mind has tried to predict what will happen next, to offer you a range of answers and choose the most appropriate according to the time.

As you know, the mind is wonderful, and uses this function to help the executive system (which is at the brain level that helps us to make the decisions) to establish a good solution to a problem that is presented in a novel way. It helps by providing predictions of the consequences to which each solution taken to the problem can take us.

But the great thing about the theory of the mind does not end there, but we are able to make predictions about the behaviors, thoughts, beliefs and intentions of others.

That is, in the example where you were sleeping, not only are you able to predict what can happen, and quickly choose a response to act. But you are able to predict what intentions the person has had in your house.

Development of the theory of the mind

The theory of the mind develops over the years, when we are still children. We need to enjoy good mental health as well as appropriate social stimuli in order to be able to have a theory of the mind armed with all its functions.

It is in the earliest childhood when the development of the sequence of attainment of the theory of the mind begins. In the field of developmental psychology the ages have been grouped into two different categories:

On the one hand, we find the early precursors of the theory of mind that are necessary to later dispose of the ToM, these precursors appear during the period between 4 months and 4 years. It is from those 4 years that the period reaches 10, when it is considered that the mind possesses enough material to be able to begin with the development phases of the theory of the mind.

I then leave you for ages what the child is expected to develop at the level of the theory of the mind.

• From 4 or 5 months: interest in social stimuli
• From 8 months onwards: Interest in mental actions that simulate others.
• Around 9 months: children use non-verbal tools to get the attention of others and communicate something.
• Between 12 and 18 months: they initiate the simulation of lived experiences through the use of symbols and representations.
• From 18 months: Symbolic function and symbolic play and beginning of secondary emotions: pride, guilt, shame.
• From 2 years: Beginning of beliefs: differentiate thought and reality
• From age 3: Increased interest shown by beliefs. They can understand what other people want but not the beliefs these people have.
• Between the ages of 3 and 4: they begin to understand their own feelings and those of others.
• Around 4 - 5 years: First-order beliefs arise, that is, in uncomplicated situations they must understand what they will think or how another person will act. It is in this age also when they begin to differentiate the lie from the joke or the irony.
• From 6 or 7 years: Second order beliefs, which are observed in situations where they should consider what they will think or how other people with similar and different information will act.
• Around the 9 or 10 years: the limit is set to resolve second order beliefs. As for the emotions it is at this age when they begin to understand the difference that exists between the pious lie, the lie and the irony.

5 Advantages of Theory of Mind for Humans

The theory of the mind has different levels of complexity and functions. Then I explain to you in detail so that you understand what it really entails to possess as a species the theory of the mind and because it is beneficial for us.

1. Emotional Facial Recognition

In our brain there is a small structure, which is part of the limbic system called amygdala . We can say that it is the one in charge of the emotions. When we observe in other people facial expressions where you can see basic emotions like fear or disgust, it is the amygdala that warns us?? And tells us what kind of emotion that other person is feeling.

This serves us so that by intuiting the emotions of others, we can better infer that it will happen moments later. That is, if a person looks at you in anger, your brain is likely to warn you that you must be alert because something is going to happen that you need to be prepared for.

This small brain structure, about the size of a pea, is of great importance in human social behavior. Both for the recognition through a visual stimulus, as can be a face of happiness, as for recognition through an auditory stimulus, such as prosody, which tells us in the tone of a sentence that emotion is hidden behind.

There are studies such as the neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux where it has been shown that undergoing a certain amygdala lesion implies difficulties in recognizing and identifying emotions.

2. False beliefs

To explain this point I will tell you about the Sally Doll Test, whose precursors were Simon Baron-Cohen, Alan M. Leslie, and Uta Frith. At the statistical level children are usually able to solve the test from the age of 6-8.

When testing with a child, the following questions arise:

She is presented with two dolls called Sally and Anne.

Sally has a basket, and Anne has a box.

The Sally doll places a marble in her basket before leaving the scene. When Sally leaves, Anne takes the marble out of the basket and places it in her box.

When Sally returns to the scene, the child is asked: Where will Sally look for his marble?

A child with a normal development of the theory of the mind will point out that the doll Sally will look for the marble in the basket because she does not know that Anne has changed the marble and put it in her box.

Children who have not yet developed the theory of the mind or have autism spectrum disorders will tell you that Sally will look for the marble in Anne's box because she does not understand that Sally still thinks the marble is in the basket where she had left her .

3. Metaphorical communications and strange stories

In this aspect the theory of the mind refers to irony, lying and pious lie.

When we talk about these three ways of communicating information, the meaning it has in the ToM is that information should not be understood literally.

The ability to understand communication in a non-literal sense, and extract meaning in terms of a particular social context, implies the need to understand a central or global coherence in order to generate a specific meaning in a given context.

4. Bloopers

Surely you once said something inopportune at a time that was not right.

For example:

Your friend gave you a cup last year that you did not like.

One afternoon having coffee with your friend, she unwittingly throws it to the ground and breaks it.

Would you tell her that it does not matter that I broke it because you really did not like it?

It is very likely that you have answered no, since you would not want to hurt your feelings.

The theory of the mind helps us not to make those mistakes thanks to the understanding of the situation and the ability to put ourselves in the other's place, and to anticipate how it will feel based on our response.

5. Empathy and moral judgment

To understand this section easily I propose two stories to read and answer:

First story : A train car goes uncontrolled to a group of five operators who carry out maintenance works on the track. All of them will die crushed by the machine if we can not find a solution. You have the possibility of pushing a button to divert the train to another road where a worker is performing repairs. The wagon would kill this man but the other five would be saved. Would you press the button?

Second story You are on a bridge that crosses a train track. A man with a disheveled appearance and with pints of being drunk is next to him. One way to stop the car we talked about before is to push the lord to fall on the road and get hit, which will cause the driver to react, brake the train and save the five lives. Would you give him a push?

Most likely you have answered that if the first approach, and yet the second your answer is very possible that it was a no.

What if the 5 subjects that are in the path are your loved ones?

Maybe this question will change your orientation in the answers.

The empathy And moral judgment is relevant in the ToM because it gives us evolutionary information both ontogenetic (the evolution of a person) and phylogenetic (evolution as a species).

Not only can we put ourselves in the skin of others to feel what they feel at a certain moment, but also, there is a component of social judgment argued by internalized social norms that makes us act in one way or another.

References

1. What is the theory of mind? J. Tirapu-Ustárroz a, G. Pà © rez-Sayes a, M. Erekatxo-Bilbao a, C. PelegrÃn-Valero. Taken from neurologia.com.
2. What is the theory of the mind? Tirapu-Ustárroza, G. Pà © rez-Sayesa, M. Erekatxo-Bilbaoa, C. PelegrÃn-Valerob THEORY OF THE MIND REV NEUROL 2007; 44 (8): 479-48.
3. The Emotional Brain: The Mysterious Underpinnings of Emotional Life Paperback?? March 27, 1998. Joseph Ledoux.
4. Baron-Cohen, S."Precursors to a Theory of Mind: Understanding Attention in Others?? In Natural Theories of Mind: Evolution, Development and Simulation of Everyday Mindreading. Whiten, A. Ed. Oxford, 1991.
5. Perner, J. & Wimmer, H. (1985). "John thinks that Mary thinks that: attribution of second-order beliefs by 5 to 10 year old children". Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 39, 437-47.