Socially evaluative contexts facilitate mentalizing

Brandon Matthew Woo

doi:10.1016/j.tics.2022.10.003

Socially evaluative contexts facilitate mentalizing

2023-01-01

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Brandon Matthew Woo *

DOI：10.1016/j.tics.2022.10.003

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Abstract

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Our ability to understand others' minds stands at the foundation of human learning, communication, cooperation, and social life more broadly. Although humans' ability to mentalize has been well-studied throughout the cognitive sciences, little atten-tion has been paid to whether and how mentalizing differs across contexts. Classic developmental studies have examined mentalizing within minimally social contexts, in which a single agent seeks a neutral inanimate object. Such object-directed acts may be common, but they are typically consequential only to the object-seeking agent themselves. Here, we review a host of indirect evidence suggesting that contexts providing the opportunity to evaluate prospective social partners may facilitate mentalizing across development. Our article calls on cognitive scientists to study mentalizing in contexts where it counts.

Keywords:

GOAL-DIRECTED ACTIONS

NEGATIVITY BIAS

PREVERBAL INFANTS

FALSE BELIEFS

MIND

ATTRIBUTION

PERCEPTION

ANTICIPATION

METAANALYSIS

INTENTION

Socially evaluative contexts facilitate mentalizing

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