How Psychology Is The Theory Of Mind

Psychology, due to its complexity can be approached in a variety of ways. To help us understand the human mind, behaviourist and psychodynamic approaches have helped us understand the alternative outlooks in the science of mind and behaviour. Both approaches can be examined by the means of theoretical assumptions and methodology.

T., & Freberg, L. A. (2013). Discovering Psychology The Science of Mind. Belmont, CA Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Retrieved from www.betheluniversityonline.net

“One with a well-developed personality is of course a happy person. As the result of social, physical, financial, and spiritual well-being, happiness is assured.”

By paying attention to body language, facial expressions and speech tones and being aware of our own feelings we are able to examine our own communication and behaviours and reflect on how we can improve ourselves. This will give us confidence and to be assertive in creating important and meaningful interactions and paying attention to our own behaviour (Raphael-Grimm 2014).

The theory shows the interrelation of the mind and body and some researchers are working to assess the role of other aspects of the person as a whole as well. The idea of accepting cognitive and behavioral interactions and seeking to better understand the roles they play seems to be a step in the right direction.

Harris (2006) stated that theory of mind is ability to understand that others have different mental states to us. This theory allows people to infer mental states (desires, beliefs, imagination, emotions, intentions, etc.). In brief, this theory is the ability to reflect on the contents of one’s own and others’ mind. Some people who have Autism lack almost all signs of a theory of mind. Other people with Autism have some of the basics of a theory of mind.

Cognitive psychology supports the view that a person’s thoughts have a major effect on their emotions, and therefore seeks to get a person to break negative thought patterns. This approach looks at the relationship between behaviour and the thought process, and understands how an individual thought process would influence how they view a particular situation (Fritscher, 2016). In addition, Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was a psychologist who specialized in the

This past week I conducted two false-belief tasks: the unexpected contents task and the Sally-Anne task, to the children of Rainbow and Rhymes. Theses task will help me observe the children if they have a Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind refers to whether or not children can understand that others have their intents and perspectives that are different from their intentions and perspective.

Theory of mind is the ability to infer mental and emotional states of others and behave accordingly and predict the others’ behavior or thoughts ( ). ToM was historically described as a single cognitive process but new research has shown that ToM is included in several brain regions and the ToM concepts exceed the original definition (Westby & Robinson, 2014). Now, ToM has been found to be involved in thinking of emotions, thoughts, and intentions as well as, dissociable ToM which is thinking of others’ thoughts, emotions, and intentions (Westby & Robinson, 2014). In addition, ToM can be thought of as affective-cognitive which is also known as cognitive empathy were a person can recognize and respond to their own feelings and others. Another component that research has revealed is affective empathy, which is when a

T., & Freberg, L. A. (2013). The science of mind: the discipline of psychology. In C. Crabtree (Ed.), Discovering psychology: The science of mind (pp. 32-33). Belmont, CA:

Many research has been done to study the milestones in human development. It allows us to measure cognitive development, thence allowing us to design a suitable education system. An important area of research is the ability to interpret others’ behaviours. The Theory of Mind (ToM) is predominantly the ability to acknowledge other individuals’s true and false beliefs (Wellman, Cross, & Watson, 2001). The false belief task, arguably the most intensely studied aspect of ToM, was designed to test whether a child can distinguish between his or her mental states, such as thoughts and desires, from others (Symons D.K., 2011). False Belief Understanding (FBU) entails having the ability to attribute mental states to others to predict their behaviour.

These researchers drew from a real-life example where a chimpanzee observes a second chimpanzee turn her head and look off into the distance and the observing chimpanzee did the same. Many psychologists will conclude that the similar behavior is an attempt to understand what the chimpanzee is looking at in hopes to understand them better. However, Penn and Povinelli argue that it is also possible for the same behavior to be produced without possessing a theory of mind. More explicitly, the subject may have turned his head simply based on previous experiences—in the past, the direction in which another chimpanzee looks has been a reliable indicator of something worth looking at in that

An adaptation was the hide and seek board game. Children as young as 2 ½ y/o were able to demonstrate theory of mind, though not as fully developed as an adult. These findings can be replicated across cultures with some variations in age, which suggest that the theory of mind is universal and therefore evolved.

Theory of mind (ToM) has been described as the ability to understand that others hold a different representation of the world to oneself. Wellman (2001) defined theory of mind as understanding others and their actions, in regards to inner experiences such as; emotions, intentions and desires. Previously, it was believed that, theory of mind was a construct limited to those of 4 years of age and above. Possible explanations for this being that, the development of the theory was tied to acquiring language in a social context (Perner & Ruffman, 2005).

Dr. William Bob is a fifty one year old licensed psychotherapist who has his own private practice. William is happily married to a primary school teacher and has 3 kids. William was born in Poland, but moved to Canada with his parents in his early childhood. Both of his parents were doctors and they were the ones who fostered this drive to work in a field of assisting people, however because William always felt a little disconnected from the exact sciences, during high school he made a decision to study psychology instead. “ I knew all along that I want to become a psychologist and that is what often helped me when I had a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel” says Dr. Bob.