PSYC 307 Lecture Notes - Lecture 6: Gummy Bear, Joint Attention, Intentionality
Document Summary
Theory of mind (tom): ability to attribute mental states beliefs, values, desires, pretending, knowledge to oneself and others and to understand that others have belief, desires, intentions and perspective that are different from one"s own. Theory of mind started out with the research of chimps. Joint attention; when people share focus on the same object or activity. Typically show difficulty in mentally representing the thoughts, beliefs, desires of others. Difficulties with pretense (eg. pretend play) and understanding emotions. Children with autism do not react to children with autism they don"t seem to understand another person"s distress/fear. Have a hard time placing themselves in other people"s shoes (perspective) Back then research said that children develop autism because their parent"s/caregivers were not loving/caring, that is why they do not have emotions react to emotions of others. Theory of mind and cultural learning: shared intentionality.
