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Why Do Children Under The Age Of 4 Possess A Theory Of Mind

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Aims The aim of this study was to investigate whether children under the age of 4 possess a theory of mind (TOM). Background Theory of mind is the ability to understand that others have beliefs contrary to your own. Studies suggest that young children do not possess TOM (Wellman, Cross & Watson, 2001, cited in Southgate, Senju and Csibra 2007, cited in Southgate; Wimmer & Perner, 1983, cited in Southgate et al 2007). Gomez, (2004, cited in Southgate et al 2007) suggests when children pass the false belief test (FBT), a test where if an infant gazes at the location an actor believes a ball to be hidden, between the ages of 3 and 4 years old, then they possess TOM. However, results from Onishi & Baillargeon’s (2005, cited in Southgate et al 2007) study, using a modified Sally-Anne Test (Baron-Cohen, …show more content…

During the experiment, infants sat on the parent’s knee in front of a monitor showing a scene of an actor standing behind two windows; in front of each window was a box with a lid. The actor would observe a ball being placed into one of the boxes by a puppet; two false belief conditions followed. FB1 condition: the actor would be distracted by a ringing telephone and the puppet would move the ball; FB2 condition: the puppet would move the ball with the actor observing, then the actor would be distracted and the puppet would take the ball away. The windows were illuminated and a chime sounded during the familiarisation and test trials to prompt the infant during the experiment that the actor would be opening a window to access the ball in one of the boxes. This also reduced the effects of confounding variables such as verbal cues. The infant’s direction of gaze data was collected using an integrated Tobii Eye Tracker. Recorded gaze was slowed to 25 frames per second from the Clearview programme, to measure how long they focused on each

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