The behavior under study is the Theory of the mind. This term is used in psychology to describe the ability to understand others by attributing mental states to them (Ho et al. 1). Previous research has revealed a lot concerning the Theory of the mind from which further research has been informed. This study dictated that children from 15 months can attribute an agent of false belief concerning the locus of an object through the utility of a spontaneous response task (Airenti 1). Additionally, previous literature confirms that the Theory of the mind is acquired at four years, according to Airenti (1). These two findings lead to the next concept already known for this subject; the puzzle of belief ascription (Airenti 1). Children as young as 3 fail the traditional false belief tasks, yet considerably younger kids succeed on the tasks requiring spontaneous responses.
In this study, the author strives to achieve the study objectives by determining the relationship between false belief tasks, the puzzle of belief ascription, and intersubjectivity and the Theory of the Mind. The dependent variable in the study is the Theory of the mind, while the independent variables include false belief tasks, the puzzle of belief ascription, and intersubjectivity (Airenti 2). The author builds on the hypothesis that intersubjectivity is more functional in explaining the Theory of the Mind than the puzzle of belief ascription. In other words, the author provides evidence that the puzzle of belief ascription defines the Theory of the Mind less accurately than intersubjectivity. The researchers utilize literature reviews of different works, including meta-analyses, to provide concrete answers to the ties between the independent and the dependent variables. The author uses experiments and secondary data analysis in a literature review as the methodology in this study.
Two interventions yielded vital results that informed the study’s conclusions. The first intervention was an experiment on irony comprehension. It was established that young children below five did not do well in these tasks. In the second design, the experiment sought to determine children’s ability to comprehend the communicative intention of ironic utterances. It was established that even children below the age of 3 years could tell the non-seriousness of an ironic utterance (Airenti 2-3). As such, the author concludes that an explicit Theory of the Mind exists apart from a puzzle. The explicit Theory of the Mind is fundamental that intersubjectivity abilities take in children before they are four years of age and mature into adulthood. According to the authors remembering that the false belief task was created to evaluate the growth of the ability to express others’ beliefs directly is essential.
Given the findings stipulated by this research study, it is notable that human beings have been able to interact with others from birth. In and even outside of class, it is vital for people to understand each other’s actions and to become responsible in monitoring, adapting, and participating in communicative exchanges. Furthermore, people experience more light when they pause to reflect on their potential responses after properly reflecting on other people’s mental states. Through strategic thinking, people who communicate should imagine two possible scenarios and not assume an absolute. One situation may imply the existence of the Theory of the mind, while the other may not necessarily imply the existence of the Theory of the Mind.
Works Cited
Airenti, Gabriella. “Theory of mind: a new perspective on the puzzle of belief ascription.” Frontiers in Psychology 6 (2015): 1184.
Ho, Mark K., Rebecca Saxe, and Fiery Cushman. “Planning with Theory of Mind.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences (2022).