Social Perception - Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind

Theory of Mind (ToM) refers to a broad understanding of other individual's mental states, such as beliefs, desires, and knowledge. ToM allows prediction of other people's behaviour and understanding of various concepts such as physical versus mental perspectives and making inferences about other people's thoughts and emotions. It also allows one to take on another individual's perspective, which is crucial for mental processes such as empathy. ToM plays an important role in both social interaction and the perception of social interaction, and is also closely related to social functioning.If an individual attributes mental states to himself and to others, that individual has a theory of mind. Since a system made of assumptions cannot be seen directly, it is viewed as a theory. However, this system can be used to help predict the actions of others.

ToM has been identified as a key component of positive social skills. It is an essential tool for social perception because it gives an individual the ability to infer what another individual is thinking. However, ToM does not always develop normally or may be damaged later in life. The irregular development or damage to ToM has been associated with many clinical conditions such as Schizophrenia, autism, Asperger's Syndrome, traumatic brain injury, and various forms of dementia including fronto-temporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease. A cue of an impaired theory of mind in individuals with these conditions is poor social skills. Although there is no known fix for these clinical conditions and their damaged ToM, many social skill improvement and rehabilitation programs have been developed to help individuals smoothly integrate into society.