Theory of Mind and Empathy as Multidimensional Constructs

Dvash, Jonathan; Shamay‐Tsoory, Simone G.

doi:10.1097/tld.0000000000000040

Cited by 220 publications

(190 citation statements)

References 71 publications

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“…The theory of mind (ToM) deficits of children with ASD [15] may be an important social-cognitive correlate of their poor pretend play [16]. ToM is a social cognitive ability to understand mental states, such as the thoughts, intentions, beliefs, and feelings of self and others, and further predict another's behavior and react accordingly [17][18][19]. Hence, ToM is necessary for the interpretation of social cues for children to understand and shape their own contexts, and participate in their pretend play and social lives [16,[20][21][22][23].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theory of mind predominantly associated with the quality, not quantity, of pretend play in children with autism spectrum disorder

Lin

Tsai

et al. 2017

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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This study aimed to clarify the relationships between theory of mind and pretend play in children with autism spectrum disorder, using refined assessments of theory of mind and pretend play while controlling for autistic behaviors and verbal comprehension. A total of 92 children with autism spectrum disorder aged 4-10 years were enrolled. In two visits, the children were assessed with the Theory of Mind Task Battery, the Child-Initiated Pretend Play Assessment, the Childhood Autism Rating Scale, and the Verbal Comprehension Index of the Wechsler Intelligence Scales, respectively, for their theory of mind, pretend play performance, autistic behaviors, and verbal comprehension. The hierarchical regression models showed that in addition to the contributions of the autistic behaviors and verbal comprehension scores, the theory of mind scores positively predicted (p < 0.001) the elaborateness scores of pretend play in the conventional imaginative and symbolic play contexts, respectively, accounting for an additional 8.1 and 18.5% of the variance, but did not predict the scores for number of object substitutions or imitated actions. The findings demonstrate that theory of mind has a predominant role in the quality, not the quantity, of pretend play of children with autism spectrum disorder, when the children's autistic behaviors and verbal comprehension are considered. This study fills a gap in the previous literature and provides information useful for clinicians and researchers on the relationships between theory of mind and pretend play in children with autism spectrum disorder.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Theory of mind predominantly associated with the quality, not quantity, of pretend play in children with autism spectrum disorder

Lin

Tsai

et al. 2017

Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry

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“…Second, a pharmacological approach may be useful in research on the functional neuroanatomy of empathy, for which there are multiple theoretical frameworks (Premack and Woodruff, 1978;Baron-Cohen, 1997;Preston and De Waal, 2002;Frith and Frith, 2003;Decety and Jackson, 2004;Iacoboni, 2009;Saxe, 2009;Dvash and Shamay-Tsoory, 2014;Zaki, 2014). Pharmacologically manipulating the psychological experience of empathy should lead to changes in the neural regions involved in generating empathic responses.…”

Section: Implications and Future Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

From painkiller to empathy killer: acetaminophen (paracetamol) reduces empathy for pain

Mischkowski

Crocker

Way

2016

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience

125

108

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Simulation theories of empathy hypothesize that empathizing with others' pain shares some common psychological computations with the processing of one's own pain. Support for this perspective has largely relied on functional neuroimaging evidence of an overlap between activations during the experience of physical pain and empathy for other people's pain. Here, we extend the functional overlap perspective to the neurochemical level and test whether a common physical painkiller, acetaminophen (paracetamol), can reduce empathy for another's pain. In two double-blind placebocontrolled experiments, participants rated perceived pain, personal distress and empathic concern in response to reading scenarios about another's physical or social pain, witnessing ostracism in the lab, or visualizing another study participant receiving painful noise blasts. As hypothesized, acetaminophen reduced empathy in response to others' pain. Acetaminophen also reduced the unpleasantness of noise blasts delivered to the participant, which mediated acetaminophen's effects on empathy. Together, these findings suggest that the physical painkiller acetaminophen reduces empathy for pain and provide a new perspective on the neurochemical bases of empathy. Because empathy regulates prosocial and antisocial behavior, these drug-induced reductions in empathy raise concerns about the broader social side effects of acetaminophen, which is taken by almost a quarter of adults in the United States each week.

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“…She discloses that she is a member of the editorial board for Topics in Language Disorders and will receive a stipend for her role as issue editor. DOI: 10.1097/TLD.0000000000000034 developed in the late 20th century and the advent of social neuroscience, however, research has shown that ToM is a multidimensional construct, having both cognitive and affective dimensions with empathy as an aspect of the affective dimension (Dvash & Shamay-Tsoory, 2014). Empathy provides a mechanism for triggering courage, love, friendship, and compassion.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In the first article, neuroscientists Dvash and Shamay-Tsoory (2014) describe the multidimensional nature of ToM, and in the final article, speech-language pathologists Westby and Robinson (2014) describe how the multidimensional ToM construct can be used in assessment and interventions for persons with ToM deficits. The intent of this issue of ToM is to present current conceptions of ToM from multiple perspectives: biological, environmental, linguistics, manifestations of ToM deficits and implications of the multidimensional ToM construct for assessment and intervention.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%