“Theory of mind” and child development

A simple but revealing series of experiments was conducted in the 1980s that show how the typical child’s mind develops. The typical experiment went like this: a child is shown a pair of dolls acting out a scene. The first doll hides an object, say a piece of chocolate, in a box. The first doll exits temporarily. While the first doll is gone, the second doll takes the object and hides it somewhere else. The first doll then returns. The observing child is asked, where will the first doll look for its chocolate/object?

Older children usually answer that the first doll looks in the original hiding place. But very young children, under about three years of age, typically say the doll looks in the place to which the second doll moved the chocolate. The explanation offered by most psychologists is that the young child not not yet developed a “theory of mind”. A theory of mind means that the child is able to understand the perspective of another person. Only older children have developed this ability to put themselves “into the shoes” of the other person.

These studies most often have been associated with studies of autism. See, for example,
http://ruccs.rutgers.edu/~aleslie/Baron-Cohen%20Leslie%20&%20Frith%201985.pdf. It turns out that autistic children usually cannot see from the perspective of the other (the first doll), even when older. Some psychologists have argued that the failure to develop a theory of mind is the primary deficiency in autism, but this is still debated.

The key point is that humans are able to adopt the perspective of other beings (note I didn’t just say humans). I think this ability is one of the most important insights we can have about our relationships to others. I’ll be exploring this theme a lot more, because I think it is critical to our understanding of ethics, morality, religion and the environment.

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