A Review of Theory of Mind Differences and Causes in Animals and Humans

Öz

Theory of mind (ToM) is the ability to understand other people’s mental states. No clear findings have been found in animal studies. This suggests that the difference between great apes and humans, who have similar social-cognitive structures, may be due to theory of mind. This study investigates the difference that may cause ToM by compiling the findings and ideas about how Tom is developed. Studies show that language skill, which is another crucial difference, predicts ToM. Language helps to ensure participation in society and the interaction of human with the environment may have paved the way for predicting others’ mental states. Communication with the social environment also includes knowledge transfer and learning. This review is aimed to contribute to the literature with the idea that learning type can evolve into a complex cognitive and social structure together with the social environment and language, making modern humans different from animals.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• theory of mind (ToM)
• language
• human-animal difference
• social environment
• learning

HAYVANLARDA VE İNSANLARDA ZİHİN KURAMI FARKLILIKLARI VE NEDENLERİ ÜZERİNE BİR DERLEME

Öz

Zihin kuramı başka insanların zihinsel durumlarını anlayarak davranışlarını tahmin edebilme becerisidir. İnsanlarda okul öncesi dönemde geliştiği düşünülen bu beceri birçok hayvan çalışmasına konu olmuş fakat net bulgulara rastlanmamıştır. Bu durum benzer evrimsel hikâyeye ve sosyal-bilişsel yapılara sahip büyük maymun ve insanlar arasındaki farkın zihin kuramından kaynaklı olabileceğini düşündürmektedir. Bu çalışmada zihin kuramının nasıl oluştuğuna ve geliştiğine dair bulgular ve fikirler derlenerek insan-hayvan farkının zihin kuramına da sebep olabilecek temellerini araştırmak amaçlanmıştır. Yapılan araştırmalar diğer önemli bir fark olan dil becerisinin zihin kuramını yordadığını göstermektedir. Dilin topluma katılımı sağlamaya yardımcı olması ve sosyal bir varlık olan insanın çevreyle etkileşimi diğer insanların zihinsel durumlarını tahmin edebilmenin yolunu açmış olabilir. Sosyal çevreyle iletişim aynı zamanda bilgi aktarımı ve öğrenmeyi içermektedir. Bu derleme çalışmasında da öğrenme tipinin, sosyal çevre ve dil ile birlikte karmaşık bir bilişsel ve sosyal yapıya evrilerek modern insanı hayvanlardan farklı kılabileceği fikriyle alanyazına katkı sağlamak amaçlanmaktadır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• zihin kuramı
• dil becerisi
• insan-hayvan farklılığı
• sosyal çevre
• öğrenme

Kaynakça

1. Agnetta, B., Hare, B., Tomasello, M. (2000). Cues to food location that domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) of different ages do and do not use. Animal Cognition, (3), 107-112.
2. Bakeman, R. & Adamson, L. B. (1984). Coordinating attention to people and objects in mother-infant and peer-infant interaction. Child Development, 55(4), 1278-1289.
3. Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., Frith, U. (1985). Does the autistic child have a “theory of mind”?. Cognition, 21(1), 37-46.
4. Baron-Cohen, S. (2005). The empathizing system: Are vision of the 1994 model of the mindreading system. B. Ellis, D. Bjorklund (Ed.), Origins of The Social Mind içinde (468-492. ss.), Guildford Publications Inc.
5. Bloom, B. & German, T. P. (2000). Two reasons to abandon the false belief task as a theory of mind. Cognition, (77), B25-B31.
6. Brauer, J., Call, J., Tomasello, M. (2007). Chimpanzees really know what others can see in a competitive situation. Animal Cognition, 10(4), 439-448.
7. Brock, L. L., Kim, H., Gutshall, C. C., Grissmer, D. W. (2019). The development of theory of mind: predictors and moderators of improvement in kindergarten. Early Child Development and Care, 189(12), 1914-1924.
8. Brune, M., & Brune-Cohrs, U. (2006). Theory of mind-evolution, ontogeny, brain mechanisms and psychopathology. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 30(4), 437-455.

9. Call, J., Brauer, J., Kaminski, J., Tomasello, M. (2003). Domestic dogs are sensitive to theattentional state of humans. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 117(3), 257-263.
10. Carpenter, M., Nagell, K., Tomasello, M., Butterworth, G., Moore, C. (1998). Social cognition, joint attention, and communicative competence from 9 to 15 months of age. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 63(4), 1-174.
11. Carruthers, P. & Smith, P. K. (1996). Theories of theories of mind. Cambridge University Press.
12. Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (1994). Better than rational: Evolutionary psychology and the invisible hand. The American Economic Review, 84(2), 327-332.
13. Cosmides, L. & Tooby, J. (1997). Evolutionary psychology: A primer. https://www.cep.ucsb.edu/primer.html
14. Dunn, J., Brown, J., Beardsall, L. (1991). Family talk about feeling states and children’s later understanding of others’ emotions. Developmental Psychology, 27(3), 448-455.
15. Emery, N. J. & Clayton, N. S. (2009). Comparative social cognition. The Annual Review of Psychology, 60, 87-113.
16. Flombaum J. I. & Santos L. R. (2005). Rhesus monkeys attribute perceptions to others. Current Biology, 15(5), 447-542.
17. Gacsi, M., Miklosi, A., Varga, O., Topal, J., Csanyi, V. (2004). Are readers of our face readers of our minds? Dogs (Canis familaris) show situation-dependent recognition of human’s attention. Animal Cognition, 7(3), 144-153.
18. Gaffan, E. A., Martins, C., Healey, S., Murray, L. (2010). Early social experience and individual differences in infants’ joint attention. Social Development, 19(2), 369-393.
19. Garfield, J. L., Peterson, C. C., Perry, T. (2002). Social cognition, language acquisition and the development of the theory of mind. Mind & Language, 16(5), 494-541.
20. Gopnik, A. & Seiver, E. (2009). Reading minds: How infants come to understand others. Zero to Three, 30(2), 28-32.
21. Hale, C. M. & Tager-Flusberg, H. (2003). The influence of language on theory of mind: A training study. Developmental Science, 6(3), 346-359.
22. Hare, B., Call, J., Tomasello, M. (1998). Communication of food location between human and dog (Canis familiaris). Evolution of Communication, 2(1), 137-159.
23. Hare, B. & Tomasello, M. (1999). Domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) use human and conspecific social cues to locate hidden food. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 113(2), 173-177.
24. Hare, B., Call, J., Agnetta, B., Tomasello, M. (2000). Chimpanzees know what conspecifics do and do not see. Animal Behaviour, 59(4), 771-785.
25. Hare, B., Adessi, E., Call, J., Tomasello, M., Visalberghi, E. (2003). Do capuchin monkeys, Cebus apella, know what conspecifics do and do not see?. Animal Behaviour, 65(1), 131-142.
26. Harris, P. L., Johnson, C. N., Hutton, D., Andrews, G., Cooke, T. (1989). Young children’s theory of mind and emotion. Cognition and Emotion, 3(4), 379-400.
27. Hughes, C., Jaffee, S. R., Happé, F., Taylor, A., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E. (2005). Origins of individual differences in theory of mind: From nature to nurture?. Child Development, 76(2), 356-370.
28. Humphrey, N. K. (1976). The social function of intellect. P. P. G. Bateson, R. A. Hinde (Ed.), Growing Points in Ethology içinde (303-317. ss.), Cambridge University Press.
29. Jolly, A. (1966). Lemur social behaviour and primate intelligence. Science, 153(3735), 501-506.
30. Kaminski, J., Call, J., Tomasello, M. (2006). Goats’ behaviour in a competitive food paradigm: evidence for perspective taking?. Behaviour, 143(11), 1341-1356.
31. Karin-D’Arey, M. R. & Povinelli, D. J. (2002). Do chimpanzees know what each other see? A closer look. International Journal of Comparative Psychology, 15(1), 21-54.
32. Karmiloff-Smith, A., Klima, E., Bellugi, V., Grant, J., Baron-Cohen, S. (1995). Is there a social module? Language, face processing, and theory of mind in individuals with Williams syndrome. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 7(2), 196-208.
33. Kuczaj, S. A. & Hendry, J. I. (2003). Does language help animals think? D. Gentner, S. Goldin-Meadow (Ed.), Language in Mind içinde (237-276. ss.), The MIT Press.
34. Legerstee, M., Markova, G., Fisher, T. (2007). The role of maternal affect attunement in dyadic and triadic communication. Infant Behaviour & Development, 30(2), 296-306.
35. Liddle, B. & Nettle, D. (2006). Higher-order theory of mind and social competence in school-age children. Journal of Cultural and Evolutionary Psychology, 4, 231-246.
36. McKinley, J. & Sambrook, T. D. (2000). Use of human-given cues by domestic dogs (Canis familiaris) and horses (Equus caballus). Animal Cognition, (3), 13-22.
37. Melis, A. P., Call, J., Tomasello, M. (2006). Chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) conceal visual and auditory information from others. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 120(2), 154-162.
38. Miklosi, A., Polgardi, R., Topal, J., Csanyi, V. (1998). Use of experimenter-given cues in dogs. Animal Cognition, 1(2), 113-121.
39. Milligan, K., Astington, J. W., Dack, L. A. (2007). Language and theory of mind: Meta-analysis of the relation between language ability and false-belief understanding. Child Development, 78(2), 622-646.
40. O’Hare, A. E., Bremner, L., Nash, M., Happe, F., Pettigrew, L. M. (2009). A clinical assessment tool for advanced theory of mind performance in 5 to 12 year olds. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 39(6), 916-928.
41. Onishi, K. H. & Baillargeon, R. (2005). Do 15-month-old infants understand false beliefs?. Science, 308(5719), 255-258.
42. Perner, J. (1999). Theory of mind. M. Bennett (Ed.), Developmental Psychology: Achievements and Prospects içinde (205-230. ss.), Psychology Press.
43. Perner, J. & Ruffman, T. (2005). Infants’ insight into the mind: How deep?. Science, 308(5719), 214-216.
44. Peterson, C. C. & Siegal, M. (2000). Insights into theory of mind from deafness and autism. Mind & Language, 15(1), 123-145.
45. Povinelli, D. J. & Eddy, T. J. (1996). What young chimpanzees know about seeing?. Monographs of the Society for Research in Children Development, 61(3), 1-189.
46. Povinelli, D. J. & Preuss, T. M. (1995). Theory of mind evolutionary history of a cognitive specialization. Cortex, 18(9), 418-424.
47. Premack, D. & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 1(4), 515-526.
48. Ruffman, T., Slade, L., Crowe, E. (2003). The relation between children’s and mothers’ mental state language and theory-of-mind understanding. Child Development, 73(3), 734-751.
49. Schick, B. & de Villiers, J. (2007). Language and theory of mind: A study of deaf children. Child Development, 78(2), 376-396.
50. Schwab, C. & Huber, L. (2006). Obey or not obey? Dogs (Canis familiaris) behave differently in response to attentional states of their owners. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 120(3), 169-175.
51. Slaughter, V. & Gopnik, A. (1996). Conceptual coherence in the child’s theory of mind: Training children to understand belief. Child Development, 67(6), 2967-2988.
52. Slaughter, V. (2015). Theory of mind in infants and young children: A review. Australian Psychologist, 50(3), 169-172.
53. Smith, R. (2009). Development of theory of mind from ages four to eight. (Yayımlanmamış doktora tezi). Orono: The University of Maine The Graduate School.
54. Soproni, K., Miklosi, A., Topal, J., Csanyi, V. (2001). Comprehension of human communicative signs in pet dogs (Canis familaris). Journal of Comparative Psychology, 115(2), 122-126.
55. Soproni, K., Miklosi, A., Topal, J., Csanyi, V. (2002). Dogs’ (Canis familiaris) responsiveness to human pointing gestures. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 116(1), 27-34.
56. Stone, V. E., Baron-Cohen, S., Knight, R. T. (1998). Frontal lobe contributions to theory of mind. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 10(5), 640-656.
57. Suddendorf, T. & Whiten, A. (2001). Mental evolution and development: Evidence for secondary representation in children, great apes, and other animals. Psychological Bulletin, 127(5), 629-650.
58. Tomasello, M. (1999). The cultural origins of human cognition. Harvard University Press.
59. Tomasello, M. (2008). Origins of human communication. The MIT Press.
60. Tomasello, M. (2016). A natural history of human morality. Harvard University Press.
61. Tomasello, M. & Farrar, M. J. (1986). Joint attention and early language. Child Development, 57(6), 1454-1463.
62. Tomasello, M., Carpenter, M., Call, J., Behne, T., Moll, H. (2005). Understanding and sharing intentions: The origins of cultural cognition. Behavioural and Brain Sciences, 28(5), 675-735.
63. Viranyi, Z., Topal, J., Gacsi, M., Miklosi, A., Csanyi, V. (2004). Dogs respond appropriately to cues of humans’ attentional focus. Behavioural Processes, 66(2), 161-172.
64. Viranyi, Z., Topal, J., Miklosi, A., Csanyi, V. (2006). A nonverbal test of knowledge attribution: a comparative study on dogs and children. Animal Cognition, 9(1), 13-26.
65. Vogeley, K., Bussfeld, P., Newen, A., Herrmann, S., Happé, F., Falkai, P., Maier, W., Shah, N. J., Fink, G. R., Zilles, K. (2001). Mind reading: Neural mechanisms of theory of mind and self-perspective. NeuroImage, 14(1), 170- 181.
66. Wimmer, H. & Perner, J. (1983). Beliefs about beliefs: Representation and constraining function of wrong beliefs in young children's understanding of deception. Cognition, 13(1), 103-128.