The Fundamental Tools, and Possibly Universals, of Human Social Cognition

Malle, Bertram F.

doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-373694-9.00012-x

Cited by 20 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 155 publications

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“…The vast majority of the substantial body of ToM publications (750 papers in the period 1985-2000 alone) used variants of false-belief tasks (Hughes et al, 2000). It is high time that research turned to an analysis of the multiple components and dimensions that constitute ToM skills (Malle, 2008). Our studies take a small step in this direction by examining dimensions such as represented versus experienced social interaction; structured versus ambiguous social tasks; and linguistic production versus comprehension.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Theory of Mind to represent and take part in social interactions: Comparing individuals with high-functioning autism and typically developing controls

Begeer

Malle

Nieuwland

et al. 2010

European Journal of Developmental Psychology

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The literature suggests that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are deficient in their Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities. They sometimes do not seem to appreciate that behaviour is motivated by underlying mental states. If this is true, then individuals with ASD should also be deficient when they use their ToM to represent and take part in dyadic interactions. In the current study we compared the performance of normally intelligent adolescents and adults with ASD to typically developing controls. In one task they heard a narrative about an interaction and then retold it. In a second task they played a communication game that required them to take into account another person's perspective. We found that when they described people's behaviour the ASD individuals used fewer mental terms in their story narration, suggesting a lower tendency to represent interactions in mentalistic terms. Surprisingly, ASD individuals and control participants showed the same level of performance in the communication game that required them to distinguish between their beliefs and the other's beliefs. Given that ASD individuals show no deficiency in using their ToM in real interaction, it is unlikely that they have a systematically deficient ToM.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Theory of Mind to represent and take part in social interactions: Comparing individuals with high-functioning autism and typically developing controls

Begeer

Malle

Nieuwland

et al. 2010

European Journal of Developmental Psychology

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“…But it is important to keep in mind the distinction between our concepts associated with ToM, on the one hand, and the psychological processes constituting ToM, on the other hand. Indeed, it has been suggested that we should approach ToM as more of a conceptual framework, considering psychological processes as a separate issue [24–25]. This distinction could also permit domain-specific (i.e., specifically social) concepts for ToM, even though none of the constituent processes may be domain-specific (but perhaps rather generic processes simply operating on specific kinds of content).…”

Section: The Problemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deconstructing and reconstructing theory of mind

Schaafsma

Pfaff

Spunt

et al. 2015

Trends in Cognitive Sciences

392

284

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Usage of the term Theory of Mind (ToM) has exploded across fields ranging from developmental psychology to social neuroscience and psychiatry research. Yet its meaning is often vague and inconsistent, its biological bases are a subject of debate, and the methods used to study it are highly heterogeneous. Most critically, its original definition does not permit easy downward translation to more basic processes such as those studied by behavioral neuroscience, leaving the interpretation of neuroimaging results opaque. We argue for a reformulation of ToM through a systematic two-stage approach, beginning with a deconstruction of the construct into a comprehensive set of basic component processes, followed by a complementary reconstruction from which a scientifically tractable concept of ToM could be recovered.

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“…Just as phenomena like memory have been broken down into their temporal and processing components, so too should phenomena like theory of mind be analyzed into relevant components (Malle, 2008;Spunt & Adolphs, 2014). Such an analysis would identify distinct concepts (e.g., intentionality, belief, emotion) and distinct processes (e.g., inference, simulation, imitation) and would articulate the interactions between particular concepts (such as goal) and particular processes (e.g., parsing of human motion; drawing goal inferences from that motion).…”

Section: Future Directions: From Social Neuroscience To Social Cognitmentioning

confidence: 99%