Theory of Mind

Within this TMA I will be discussing Theory of Mind and how it may have evolved in humans, using the Theory of Evolution to explain this. I will also be looking at what the adaptive function of Theory of Mind in humans may be. The adaptive function in this essay means the relative ability of a person to effectively interact with society on all levels and care for one’s self; affected by one’s eagerness to practice skills and follow opportunities for enhancement.

Evolution is the procedure which modern organisms have descended from the earliest ancestors. Evolution is accountable for both the similarities and the diversity across all species. Essential to the process is genetic variation on which selective forces can act in order for evolution to occur. Evolution can also be described as descent with modification. Evolution occurs when there is a modification in gene regularity in a population over time. These genetic differences can be inherited and may be passed on to the subsequent generations. The main idea of evolution is all life on earth shares a common ancestor.
Charles Darwin first proposed the theory of evolution after spending time on the Galapagos Islands. He developed the theory of evolution which would oppose the creation of man and imply that all species derived from common ancestors through natural selection. Natural selection is thought to be the main factor resulting in the diversity of species. Natural Selection is as stated by Barrett (2002) “The process whereby physical and behavioral characteristics which enable survival are passed onto descendants” (as cited in Clegg. 2007. Pg121). The disappearance of less suited gene traits and the survival of the better suited genetic traits led Darwin to reason that organisms had evolved over time, where the most advantageous characteristics of species’ are preferred and those organisms who demonstrate them survive to pass on their genes. Darwin believed that organisms had evolved to adapt to their environments. This allowed them to fill a niche in which they would be well suited to their environment and in turn increase survival chances. Darwin 's finches are an example of the way the species ' genetic traits have adapted for long term survival via their young. The beaks of the finches Darwin discovered have evolved to be best suited to their purpose. For example, the finches that eat grubs have a slim extended beak to poke holes into the earth and retrieve the grubs. Finches that eat fruits and buds would not be successful at this, as their larger beaks grind down food which gives them an advantage in situations where buds are the only food source for finches.

Within humans many adaptations have occurred through Darwin’s idea of natural selection. “An adaptation is an evolved property of an organism, the original function of which adds to its fitness” (Clegg, 2007, p122). One of these adaptations is called Theory of Mind. Theory of Mind is “the ability to explain and predict the actions of both oneself and other” (Clegg, 2007, p133). To have Theory of Mind would allow humans to understand what another person feels and use that information to adjust their own actions Studies have been carried out on primates closely related to humans in the gene pool to try and understand the evolution of Theory of Mind. One observation completed by Whiten in 1997 was that of an ape who distracted another to keep the competitor from food which the original ape had seen (as cited in Clegg, 2007, p139). This ape’s deception may point to the ape possessing some Theory of Mind as it realised that the competitor would have desired the food item also. This can also be related to modern humans as the ability to find food can also be a difficult task for some people such as the tribes who live in the deserts. This will attract a partner as it shows the ability to provide and survive, and will be passed through generations.
Archaeological evidence can also be used to try to understand the evolution of Theory of Mind in our ancestors, when it fully appeared in Homo sapiens and its adaptive function. The appearance of archaeological art e.g. cave drawings, around 30,000 years ago shows the humans at the time had the ability to imagine things which allowed them to create the artwork. With the ability to do this it can be said that the people who drew the artwork possessed Theory of Mind. These cave drawings may have been used to attract a partner, which means the genes for imagining and creating the artwork would have been passed to their subsequent children. This adaptation would provide the next generation of humans with the ability to imagine and therefore possessing a quality of Theory of Mind. When this adaptation was passed on and used by the children it would have allowed them to create partnerships and their offspring would also have the same trait. This would allow the gene to become an advantage and therefore be passed on through the generations and continue until the Homo sapiens of today. The ability to imagine can still be used today as a means of attracting a partner.

Theory of Mind also allows us to interact with success with other humans and how to understand how someone is feeling from their actions. With the evidence and explanations provided Theory of Mind is an advantage to modern humans as its adaptive function may be to allow individuals to survive longer and therefore create more offspring with the desirable characteristic to suit the environment into which it is born. This allows the Homo sapiens to continue to survive upon the earth.

References
Clegg, H (2007). Evolutionary Psychology. In D. Miell, A. Phoenix, & K. Thomas (Eds), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed., pp.105-160). Milton Keynes: The Open University

Part 2

Question 1

A, The two variables shown are the response time and the child’s lunchbox rating.

B, (ii) Negative

C, (iii) Medium

D, (iii) Eating a nutritionally poor lunch is a cause of responding slowly on a distraction task in the afternoon.

E, (i) Positive

F, One effect may have been the parents of the children taking part increasing the nutritional value of their lunch as they knew that this was being assessed and looked at.

G, A reason why the correlation coefficient may have been so ‘high’ is that as it is an informal rating Kate may have taken into consideration other factors. For example the lunchbox rating or past actions of the child instead of just using the actions and data from the day of the experiment.

H, I would expect the correlation coefficient to increase further towards perfect negative correlation (-1). The reason for this is that both 7 and child 8 gave data which did not correlate and was furthest from the other children in the graph. This would mean the graph would show a stronger correlation coefficient if both sets of data we removed.

Question 2

A, (ii) Whether participants read newspaper reports with subtle or blatant changes.

B, (iii) The difference in accuracy scores between the filler and critical questions.

C, (iv) Between participants because some participants read the “ blatant change” newspaper report and some read the “subtle change” on.

D, (ii) the length of time spent on the distraction task. (iii) the number of inaccurate changes made in the two newspaper reports.

E, (i) The time of day at which the first part of the experiment (stages 1 and 2) was completed (v) The gender of participants.
F, The experiment could have asked for the participants to attend a place at the same time so the experiment would be completed together. To try to eliminate any effect the gender of a participant may have, both researchers could have picked a single gender. They could also have chosen 5 females and 5 males in each of their groups which would also allow them to compare gender if they so wished.

Question, 3

I would find 10 participants for my study and ask them to fill in a short questionnaire regarding the subjects they are studying. This would allow me to seek a subject which is not known in depth by any of the participants which will give clearer results. I would then research the first 5 pages of chapter one, two and three and pick out 10 different pieces of information for which I will ask a question about. I will draw up my 10 questions for each chapter.

I would invite the participants to enter a plain room as to have fewer distractions and sit at a desk. I would then start the experiment by asking the participants to read chapter one of the chosen subject. This would be done without any music or noise of any type as this will give me a baseline from which to assess the results of both vocal and non vocal music on study. After reading the 5 pages each participant would be required to fill in the 10 answer questionnaire. I would then give the participants 10 minutes break as this would allow them to refresh. I would continue the same procedure for chapter two (whilst playing a popular song at the time) and chapter three (whist playing a non vocal section of music). I would then use the data to make a comparison and decide if there is evidence that vocal music can disrupt study and therefore memory.

-The Independent variable in my experiment would be the no music, vocal music and non- vocal music in each scenario.

-The Dependant variable in my experiment would be the test scores for each of the participants.

-A confounding variable which may occur within my experiment is the gender of the participants. To counteract this I could make sure all the participants are single sexed which would give me a better ground for comparison.

References: Clegg, H (2007). Evolutionary Psychology. In D. Miell, A. Phoenix, & K. Thomas (Eds), Mapping Psychology (2nd ed., pp.105-160). Milton Keynes: The Open University