Dr. Henry Schlinger describes the history of Theory of Mind (ToM), different ways it is defined, classic tests used to evaluate ToM, and provides a behavior-analytic view on how to evaluate the outcomes of classic tests and behaviors said to reflect ToM.
This presentation
1) describes a brief history of the concept of Theory of Mind (ToM) (or perspective taking);
2) describes what most psychologists mean by ToM, in other words the various ways it is defined;
3) describes the classic tests most often used to study ToM;
4) discusses problems with traditional explanations of the results of these tests; and
5) offers a behavior-analytic view of the behaviors said to reflect ToM.
