Theory Of Mind And Empathy Essay

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Morality in the average child can be observed through Theory of Mind and empathy. Theory of Mind is an important component in measuring a child’s ability to empathize because it is a form of a building block. Researchers believe that the ability to understand false belief is important because it shows that a child can understand intricacy in thought. Theory of Mind points to a child’s understanding that how a person sees the world shapes what they know, and that the mind controls worldview. Research has shown that children with ASD often rank below their peers without ASD in empathy and moral reasoning. In this paper, I will discuss the differences between children with ASD and those without. Several peer reviewed articles utilized Theory of Mind tasks to judge where children with ASD ranked compared to their …show more content…

Morality and empathy was measured in children without ASD through the IRI (Hirvela, 2011; Li, 2017), Moral Reasoning Test for Children (Kretschmer, 2014), and a Piagetian dilemma (Fadda, 2016). In the IRI, children without ASD showed competence in Perspective taking, fantasy, and empathic concern. The Piagetian dilemma showed children without ASD understanding intent (Fadda, 2016). It can be concluded that children without ASD performed at a universally average ability. Children without ASD show proficiency in maintaining relationships and meeting other’s expectations because they are able to draw inferences about their prosocial behavior from small gestures their peers make. While a child without ASD can see their friend continuing to be their friend and surmise they are a moral individual, a child with ASD wouldn’t show the same understanding (Senland, 2013) The IRI seems to be the most commonly accepted form of testing morality and empathy, with three papers using it as their

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