2-159 - Biased Perspective Taking and Its Implications for the Development of Social Cognition

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

The ability to reason about what others know is critical for understanding others’ actions and communicating effectively. Yet ample research shows that our ability to reason about what others know, and what we once knew, is often compromised by the ‘curse of knowledge bias’. This bias refers to a fundamental constraint on perspective-taking in which one’s current knowledge state interferes with the ability to reason about a naïve perspective; whether that is one’s own earlier perspective (aka Hindsight Bias) or someone else’s. Three presentations offer new data on how this bias changes across development, from age 3 to late adulthood. Results are discussed in relation to 'theory of mind' and other aspects of social cognition. The symposium closes with our Discussant’s thoughts and audience input.

Sub Unit

• Social Cognition

Chairs

• Susan Birch, University of British Columbia

• Shelbie Sutherland, University of Toronto

Discussant

• Andrei Cimpian, New York University

Individual Presentations

• I Knew I Would Lose That Game: Hindsight Bias for Negative and Positive Events in Children and Adults - Presenting Author: Hannah Jean Kramer, University of California, Davis; Karen Hjortsvang, University of California, Davis; Kristin Lagattuta, Univ of California, Davis

• Theory of Mind is Unrelated to Hindsight Bias (Curse-of-Knowledge) Across the Lifespan? - Presenting Author: Daniel M Bernstein, Kwantlen Polytechnic University

• The Curse of Knowledge Bias in Children's False Belief Reasoning and the Mechanisms Involved - Presenting Author: Susan Birch, University of British Columbia; Siba Ghrear, University of British Columbia; Taeh Bonn Haddock, University of British Columbia; Vivian Li, University of British Columbia