Theory of Mind and Persuasion Abilities in Young Children

1240 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: self concept child development

Theory of mind is a child’s ability to understand mental states of not only of themselves but also of others, generally preschoolers take time to develop this but once they do they are able to conduct a variety of functions and see outside of their own perspectives. In the study, conducted by Slaughter, Peterson, and Moore they looked at the relationship between theory of mind (ToM) and persuasive abilities of young children, ages 3 to 8. Researchers hypothesized that there would be a positive correlation between the relationship between theory of mind and persuasive abilities and conducted what they called the peer persuasion task to determine children’s ability to persuade a peer like puppet named Matty into getting him to eat a raw piece of broccoli and brush his teeth (Slaughter, Peterson, & Moore, 2013).
In this task experimenters used the puppet who argued that eating broccoli and brushing his teeth, due to the tooth paste, was yucky and refused to do so, experimenters then encouraged children to do their best to generate a persuasive argument after each refusal, of which the puppet refused three times for each task before finally committing to the act. This process allowed children who had not given up or run out of ideas beforehand the opportunity to continue generating more persuasive arguments. With the tasks, experimenters also used motivation versus altruistic variables to see if it changed the way the child tried to persuade the puppet. The child was told that they would either gain a sticker if they got the puppet to complete the task (motivation) or (altruistic) that Matty would gain a sticker once he completed the task (Slaughter et al., 2013).
Researchers decided to score children based on the way they persuaded the puppet which were categorized into 4 groups and scored 3 ways: Simple injunction or query, shoving into mouth or commanding, which

Show More
Related

  • Blind Faith and False Belief: An Examination of the Development of Theory of Mind in Children with Congenital Profound Visual Impairment

    1735 Words  | 4 Pages

    The purpose of this paper is to closely examine the effects of children with congenital profound visual impairment (CPVI) and a possible correlation to the delay in the development of theory of mind (ToM). Specifically, this paper will compare a study that investigated how visual cues affect the development of ToM to a similarly themed episode from the popular television show Xena: Warrior Princess. On the surface these two groups may appear to be an odd comparison, for children with CPVI and Xena seem like they have nothing in common. However, there is one episode in particular entitled “Blind Faith,” in which these two worlds collide in a unique and surprising way proving and interesting parallel and additional insight into how blindness may affect the development of the theory of mind.

    Read More

  • David Mamet's The House of Games and David Lynch's Blue Velvet

    1460 Words  | 3 Pages

    Have you ever wondered what it would be like to control another person's mind? The mere capabilities of someone possessing this powerful of an influence on others has a twisted and very horrifying , yet interesting sense of bewildering control and has boggled the minds of many for centuries. There have been several instances of historical examples in which a person in power somehow persuades the people under them to surrender their personal beliefs and submit to authority. Although, there are many more instances of this nature that occur in everyday life also. It must be incredibly exhilarating to get into someone's most private thoughts or easily attain their unquestioning trust with the things you say and what you do. I think the power to persuade someone else fits in exclusively with certain characters within the films we viewed in class. Although complete control over another person is difficult and rare, this main theme of dominant human interaction occurs several times throughout each movie.

    Read More

  • The Development of Object Permanence

    3475 Words  | 7 Pages

    Siegler, R., & Alibali, M. (2005). Children’s Thinking Fourth Edition. Prentice Hall Inc. Upper Saddle River NJ.

    Read More

  • Functional Analysis Of Self-Injury

    845 Words  | 2 Pages

    One, social disapproval, in which each participant was sat in a room with an experimenter and asked to play with toys while the experimenter read a book, if the child began to engage in self-injurious behavior the experimenter would make statements of disproval towards the participant. Two, academic demand, in which a child was asked to complete academic tasks, the participants were praised for successfully completing each task, however if they began to engage in self-injury the experimenter would stand up immediately and ignore them for 30 seconds. In the third, unstructured play, participants again were placed in a room with the experimenter and toys but no demands were made and they were given praise for playing. In the last condition, the participants were placed in a room alone without toys, and were simply observed.

    Read More

  • Compare and contrast these theories: SMCR, Inoculation Theory, The Boomerang effect, and Rank’s Model of Persuasion. Identify the strengths and ...

    669 Words  | 2 Pages

    Research studies suggest theories such as the SMCR model, Ranks theory and inoculation theory are effective models of persuasion. In addition, they determined the boomerang effect to be a unique theory of persuasion in which the communication efforts result in goal opposites (Woodard et al., 2013, p. 144). In comparison, the communication outcomes of the SMCR and Ranks theories goal oriented. The SMCR model consists of four uncomplicated key components: a source, message, channel and receiver (Larson, C., 2013, p. 22). Similarly, the Ranks model is a straightforward persuasion process identifying four plans of attack and six correlated methods used by persuaders to implement persuasion goals into strategies using specific methods (Larson, C., 2013, p. 29). The strength of the Ranks model is the development of a more demanding and interpretive receiver (Larson, C., 2013, p. 29). In a like manner, the SMCR process focuses on this area to assist the receiver in identifying the persuader’s motives (Larson, C., 2013, p. 23). Both the SMCR and the Ranks models identify external processing strategy weakness in the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) (Larson, C., 2013, pp. 25 & 29). For example, the theories suggest messages are not fully examined and become impacted in the hidden and intuitive area of the receiver’s brain (Larson, C., 2013, p. 25).

    Read More

  • Drive Dan Pink Book Report

    782 Words  | 2 Pages

    In the book Drive by Dan pink he points out the three main factors that motivates us as humans. Dan uses a lot of evidence from lab experiments to prove this point as to why some beliefs about what motivates us as human isn’t technically correct. One of the experiments which Dan Pink proves to not be accurate is the carrot and stick experiment doesn’t work anymore. In his book the three factors of motivation Dan states are Purpose, Autonomy and Mastery. In his book Dan explains that as humans the idea that we are motivated by rewards and punishment (he also refers to it as motivation 2.0) is not true, he explains that as humans we are more diverse and complex than we think. As humans we have the desire to always know more we strive to know

    Read More

  • Understanding the Way Our Mind Works in the Theory of Mind

    1534 Words  | 4 Pages

    The skills typically required to development a theory of mind are minimal. It is important that a child first acquires the ability to view oneself and others as intentional agents, or individuals who cause things to happen to reach a desired goal, so that they can then be able to take the perspective of others and understand what their intentions are (Bjorklund, p.200). Now, although infants are not born with these abilities, they do develop them over time. How children come to appreciate that other people have beliefs and desires, often different from their own, that motivate their behavior, is assessed through what is known as the false-b...

    Read More

  • Why Do Babies Choose The Puppet

    259 Words  | 1 Pages

    2) It had a huge effect because the babies picked the puppet that liked the same snacks as the babies. The babies had positive feelings toward the puppet that picked the same snacks.

    Read More

  • Theory of Mind

    1083 Words  | 3 Pages

    The concept of ‘theory of mind’ is a complex one with various considerations. It can basically be defined as, ‘The ability to understand or ‘read’ the mind of another individual; the ability to ‘put oneself in the place of another’,’ (Smith and Stevens 2002). Essentially, ‘theory of mind’ is concerned with the ideal that a person can comprehend what another person in the same situation may be thinking, or the way in which they may be feeling, without the necessity for direct contact and communication to establish that information. The paramount dilemma for psychologists researching this area of evolutionary psychology, is the difficulty in ensuring that it genuinely is the mind of another individual that a person is responding to, rather than their overt behaviour, bearing in mind the impossibility of looking directly into another’s mind.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Jean Piaget's Cognitive Development

    986 Words  | 2 Pages

    Before that, children were thought to have less intellectual abilities than adults. This theory models the steps children move through in thought and logical thinking, how their learning differs from adult learning, and the importance of mastering one stage before moving on to the next. The way that children grow and develop their viewpoint of life depends on their ability to form a baseline of knowledge, then question and cognitively think through how an experience differs.

    Read More

  • The Little Albert Experiment by John Watson and Rosalie Rayner

    1876 Words  | 4 Pages

    The Little Albert experiment has become a widely known case study that is continuously discussed by a large number of psychology professionals. In 1920, behaviorist John Watson and his assistant Rosalie Rayner began to conduct one of the first experiments done with a child. Stability played a major factor in choosing Albert for this case study, as Watson wanted to ensure that they would do as little harm as possible during the experiment. Watson’s method of choice for this experiment was to use principles of classic conditioning to create a stimulus in children that would result in fear. Since Watson wanted to condition Albert, a variety of objects were used that would otherwise not scare him. These objects included a white rat, blocks, a rabbit, a dog, a fur coat, wool, and a Santa Claus mask. Albert’s conditioning began with a series of emotional tests that became part of a routine in which Watson and Rayner were determining whether other stimuli’s could cause fear.

    Read More

  • Theory Of Mind

    904 Words  | 2 Pages

    For many years, psychologists have been interested in the Theory of Mind (ToM) and its effects on non-human animals and also humans. Theory of Mind is referred to ‘the ability to attribute mental states – beliefs, knowledge, intentions, desires’ and so on. (Hewson et al, 2015) The Theory of Mind has been researched widely from many different psychologists, although ones mentioned in this essay are solely related to non-human animals. This essay will be describing research studies and explain how they have helped psychologists understand ToM.

    Read More

  • Attribution of Intentionality and Theory of Mind in Pre-school and School-aged Children

    3722 Words  | 8 Pages

    The ability of understanding intentions of others is very important for social development of children (Feinfield, Lee, Flavell, Green, & Flavell, 1999). By means of understanding intentions children can make sense of that people and animates are different from objects (Feinfield, et al., 1999). According to Shantz (1983), this ability is the requisite to understand morality and responsibility. To understand plans and planning we also need to have the ability of understanding intentions (Feinfield, et al., 1999). In addition, Feinfield and colleagues stated that acquiring the ability of understanding intentions of others is also important for the cognitive development of the children such as theory of mind (ToM) that is “the understanding that others have beliefs, intentions and desires different from one’s own” (Kelly, 2011; p. 5). For these stated reasons many researchers have conducted various studies about the ability of understanding intentions of others. Several studies were carried out to determine when children begin to develop the ability of understanding intentions, which factors have an impact on this ability, how these factors influence the intention attribution and what the role of intention attribution plays for the associations between cognitive capacities and moral reasoning.

    Read More

  • The Power of Persuasion

    2179 Words  | 5 Pages

    Someone persuades you over 400 times a day, 2,800 times a week, and 145,600 times a year. You may give in to some attempts and hold back on others. There is, however, an incredible power behind the things that you do give in to. Through history and books like Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Animal Farm by George Orwell we can learn from successful endeavors of persuasion and discover the principles that define the powers that persuasion holds. First, let’s start at the very beginning.

    Read More

  • Cognitive Process Of Persuasion Essay

    1196 Words  | 3 Pages

    In order to effectively understand how persuasion works in the social environment it is vital that there is a clear understanding of the cognitive processes underlying persuasion at an individual level. These processes play a huge role in attitude formation and persuasion. They can ultimately create either strong or weak attitudes depending on the different cognitive routes that are used to create attitudes from the exposure of information.

    Read More

More about Theory of Mind and Persuasion Abilities in Young Children

Open Document