3-228 - New Directions for Theory of Mind Development

Session Type: Paper Symposium

Integrative Statement

Theory of mind has been one of the most heavily researched areas in cognitive development in the last thirty years. Throughout, the false belief task has been the central focus and has become almost synonymous with theory of mind. Yet there remain many wholly unexplored directions. The first talk asks whether preschoolers can track more than a single agent with a false belief and, if so, how many agents? The second talk goes beyond change of location and appearance to ask whether toddlers can understand false beliefs about differing quantities (ratios), suggesting that toddlers’ representations of beliefs can include quantifiers. The third talk investigates how perceived in-group/out-group structure helps toddlers understand social pretense in the service of in-group “harmony.” Together, these papers pave new directions for investigating the development of theory of mind departing from the single agent, single object, single belief paradigm.

Sub Unit

• Social Cognition

Chair

• Alan Miller Leslie, Rutgers University

Discussant

• Kristen Dunfield, Concordia University

Individual Presentations

• Small-group theory of mind: Beyond the single agent false belief task - Presenting Author: Michelle Cheng, Rutgers University; Lu Wang, Rutgers University; Alan Miller Leslie, Rutgers University

• Hedging your (mistaken) bets: 23-month-olds can attribute false beliefs involving quantifiers - Presenting Author: Rose Scott, University of California Merced; Megan Smith, University of California, Merced

• 2.5-Year-Old Toddlers Understand Social Pretense in Ingroup Life - Presenting Author: Peipei Setoh, Nanyang Technological University; Fransisca Ting, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign; Renée Baillargeon, University of Illinois