Theory of Mind and Autism

What is Theory of Mind?

Theory of mind is an individual's mental states and development affected by their cultures, including beliefs, intents, desires, emotions, and knowledge toward themselves and others that are not directly observable, to predict our behaviors and others'.

The ability to comprehend attention, understand others' intentions, and imitate others is essential to build the theory of mind. 

Another necessary supporting development is pretending to be someone else, understanding the causes and consequences of emotions, and understanding the people and have different likes/dislikes. 

Stages of Theory of Mind

• To realize that people have different desires and act differently to get what they want
• To understand that people have various beliefs and react differently to what they think will happen on the same thing/situation.
• To recognize that others got different access to knowledge/exposures, they will need extra information to understand if someone hasn't experienced anything.
• To be aware that others may have false-beliefs that differ from reality.
• Be mindful that other people can display different emotions than they feel inside.

Children diagnosed with autism lack social skills, showing repetitive behaviors, and nonverbal communication deficits in mind capabilities theory. 

Here's some example task to investigate whether autistic children could understand false-belief.

A commonly used first-order false-belief task is the "Unexpected contents."

Children need to predict another child's perception about the contents of a box in packaging looks as though it holds a candy but stores a pencil. This task involves attribution about other's false-belief on real events. 

Teacher: "What do you think is in the box?"

Boy: "Candy."

Teacher: "Why don't you open the box and see what's inside?"

Boy: "Oh, it's a pen."

Teacher: "What do you think your friend Ben would say if he would say is in the box if he saw it?"

Boy: "Pen!"

The second example is a tested child sits at a table where two boys, Matt and Ben, facing a box and a basket.

In this scenario, Matt first places a robot into his basket and then leaves the scene. Ben then enters the room, takes the robot out of the basket, and puts it into a closed box. Then the autistic participant needs to answer where Matt will look for the robot. 

If the child passes, he/she will point to the basket, understanding that, although this is not the reality (as the robot is now in the box), Matt had a false-belief that the robot is in the basket, as he did not watch Ben move it. 

To point to the basket is to understand that Ian has his own set of beliefs about the world that differ from the child's (he or she knows where the robot is).

Theory of mind helps us engage in daily social interaction as we interpret the mental states and infer those around us. Autistic children need to learn this skill to understand others better with their implicit or explicit messages.