Understanding Human Behavior: Mind Reading and Social Interactions

1. it’s pure and simple...

2. The Fabric of the Social World • dr fenja ziegler •c82 sad•lecture 1•

3. are you a mind reader? predict and explain behaviour using abstract concepts: mind desire think

4. mind, chocolate & Ford T • predicting behaviour • understanding behaviour • deception • language • imagination • communication • action understanding • morals • empathy • imitation • transmission of knowledge chocolate search behaviour

5. time’s not on our side modern humans homo 2 million years ago australopithecines 6 million years ago

6. 4,500,000,000,000 in 24 hours(Bryson, 2003) 00:00 am: beginning of earth history 04:00 am: beginning of life (single cell organism) 16 (sixteen!) hours later.... 08:30 pm: Sea plants 08:50 pm: Jellyfish & Ediacaran fauna 09:04 pm: Trilobites & Burgess Shale creatures 09:59 pm: Land plants 10:01 pm: Land creatures 10:24 pm: Carboniferous forest cover & winged insects 10:59 pm: Dinosaurs 11:39 pm: Dinosaurs extinct & Start of Age of Mammals 11:58:43 pm: Humans Midnight: ... now ... this lecture

7. time’s not on our side modern humans homo 2 million years ago australopithecines 6 million years ago

8. time’s not on our side 99%

9. time’s not on our side tool use symbolic communication complex social organisations

10. time’s not on our side • biological evolution: • too slow • (cumulative) cultural evolution • ratchet effect • no one single individual, but build on existing knowledge • others are like me • learn from and through the other • what things are ‘for’

11. it’s not really about chocolate... building blocks of mentalising • development • typical • abnormal • adults and infants • neural processes • how we do it • are we really the only ones? • associated skills and problems • know others, know thyself

12. before you connect with other minds • others are like me... what’s me? • the brain that can reflect on itself • the development of knowledge about the self • dawning of an understanding of one’s own existence

13. how do I know that you know that you are you? Gordon Gallup Jr. • an agent of your own actions • And aware that you are • how do you know it is you?

14. mirror, mirror on the wall • is that me? • cat treats reflection as other cat • are YOU afraid of your own shadow? • self concept (including what I normally cannot see) • who’s me? • not you • seeing mirror reflection or video recording (Povinelli et al. 1996)

15. mirror recognition is artefact of anesthesia • self-recognition does not imply self concept • implies agency, but agency possessed by all mobile non-humans (avoid collisions) what does this really show? Heyes’s critique

16. Gallup’s response Daniel Povinelli • some studies don’t involve anaesthetic • apesmarked selectively touch the marked zone | apesunmarked do not • passing the test is species specific • passing in chimps is linked to chronological age in chimps; passed 8 years old • necessary but not sufficient for judgements of ignorance (children and apes)

17. I can see you I can’t see me I can feel this I can’t feel that from me to you....you are like me Andy Meltzoff

18. know thyself... • who knows best is authority • who’s the authority on you? • does Mum know best?

19. from physical to psychologicalRosenberg (1967) • Who am I? • ten things • children aged 10: • focus on physical qualities • adolescents: • aspects of relationships with others • character • inner feelings • “If I asked you and your mother how good you were, and you said one thing and she said another, who would be right?” • 70% of 10 year olds say mother would be right • 60% of 15 year olds say they would be right

20. interior and exteriorwho knows best...? • Morris Rosenberg (1979) aged 11 • Sarah Burton and Mitchell (2003) • characteristics and behaviour (external): • how good at sums? • how well Beth can sit still? • how fast you can run? • how hard Tommy works? • how good at tidying your room? • how helpful Beth is? • thoughts and feelings (internal) • what you secrets are? • what games Tommy likes? • what you want to be when you grow up? • when Beth cries who knows best what is wrong? • what your favourite food is? • who knows best when Tommy is feeling hungry? Specific Questions Self and Other Child Different adults

21. 6 y.o. sensitive to interior/ exterior Sharp Age trend Even 7 y.o. cite themselves so, who knows...best?

22. WHY do children start out thinking they don’t know their own mind? • failure to grasp the value of first person subjective access • Why? • Wittgenstein’s private language argument (Montgomery, 1997) • The role of culture: • parents tell us that they can read our minds • more prevalent in South East Asia than Western society (Fivush & Wang, 2005) private language Internal State External correlates

23. bananas ... and mental representation Alan Leslie • pretend play from 18 months old: • explore a hypothetical world via symbolism • dawning of understanding other minds • dual representation object as is • pretend object

24. morals and empathy I feel your pain Empathic awareness It’s your pain not mine • emotional contagion • imitation • empathy

25. the shape of things to come • Fabric and Building blocks • Ontogeny of Mentalising • Phylogeny: the Mental world of apes (and others) • Mindblind: Autism • Not just what, but how?

26. selected key references • Burton, S., & Mitchell, P. (2003). Child Development, 74, 426-444. • Heyes, C. M. (1994). Animal Behaviour, 47, 909-919 • Leslie, A.M. (1987). Psychological Review, 94, 412-426. • Meltzoff, A. N., & Moore, M. K. (1977). Science, 198(4312), 74-78. • Povinelli, D.J. & Eddy, T.J. (1996).Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development (Vol. 61, No. 247) • Povinelli, D.J., Landau, K.R., & Perilloux, H.K. (1996). Child Development, 67, 1540-1554. • Tomasello, Michael (1999) The cultural origins of human cognition. London: HUP

27. cognitive evolution