Theory Of Mind: The Starting Point Of Empathy

The theory of mind or ToM (acronym in English) refers to the ability to represent our own mind and that of others. It is what allows us to interpret and predict behavior through the mental states we attribute. These mental states can be feelings, thoughts, beliefs, desires, etc. To understand this let’s look at a simple example.

Imagine that you look out the window and see your neighbor coming out the gate, then he puts his hands in his pockets. Then he turns around and goes back to where he lives. It’s probably not that hard to understand this behavior, you’ll think he forgot something. This is because you were able to get inside his mind and interpret the behavior. This is the ability that in psychology is treated under the so-called theory of mind.

The theory of mind as a conceptual system

ToM comes from the current of constructivism, in which the human being is seen as a scientist who creates intuitive theories of a reality based on concepts. For this reason, ToM assumes that all notions and ideas about the mind form a great conceptual system. We say that something is a conceptual system when when it comes to defining, instead of having an explicit definition, we have a network of interrelated concepts that define it.

There are two fundamental aspects to understanding this conceptual system:

• The interpretive character: we talk about the concepts we use to represent the mental state. It would be the content that gives us the resources to build mental reality.

• The inferential character: here all the logical relationships between concepts would enter. These relationships lead us to be able to explain and predict future behaviors through the cause-effect relationship.

So, we can define the theory of mind as a cognitive system that, through a conceptual basis and some inference mechanisms, performs the function of interpreting, predicting and dealing with behavior. From this definition it is possible to deduce that the mind is what unites perception and action: if we manage to represent the mind of an individual, we can infer his behavior.

The mind as a mediator of behavior

But here comes the question: how does the mind mediate perception and action and what can we infer? Understanding this is important to understanding how we are able, just by intuiting a person’s thoughts, to anticipate their behavior. Psychologist Rivière, along with his colleagues, developed a causal theory of ToM that seeks to explain this.

According to this theory, everything starts because through perception we generate beliefs about reality. These beliefs, along with our educational and biological dispositions, would generate some desires. These desires, in turn, would modify our beliefs to favor their realization. And this interaction between beliefs and desires would give rise to a series of behaviors aimed at fulfilling the desires.

This model has a gap: it is too simplistic to explain the reality of behavior production. But you don’t have to see it from a scientific perspective, as we are looking for the reasoning that the brain does, not reality. It seems that this is the theory our brain uses to interpret and anticipate our own behavior and that of others. It may lack precision and this may lead to errors in some situations, but it is a quick shortcut that gets it right many times.

development of the theory of mind

ToM would not be a capability we could count on since our birth. In fact, it would be a way of functioning most of us would potentially be born; that is, as if it were pre-installed. This pre-installation, speaking in computer terms, to become a real installation would need stimulation in certain sensitive periods of our development.

To be able to use ToM, the child needs to develop two aspects:

• An integrated idea of ​​desires-beliefs: the child needs to understand that people govern their behavior through their own desires and beliefs. In this regard, they have to learn that beliefs may not be true and wishes may not come true.
• That there is a subjective situation facing an objective reality: the child must understand that behavior is governed by the subjective assessment of reality. Thus, he will be able to think about the existence of false beliefs and reason from them.

Furthermore, once the theory of mind has been developed, it does not mean that it is a passive process of the human being. This ability influences the development of other skills, some of which are very much needed by people; among them empathy. When children begin to understand the beliefs and desires of others, they begin to put themselves correctly in other people’s shoes: an essential aspect for a good development of empathy.