Theory of Mind and Social Interaction

A complex understanding of ‘Theory of Mind’ is essential for successful face to face social interaction.

By this, I don’t mean the simple definition of Theory of Mind based on the Sally-Ann Test, which tests to see if a child understands that someone may not know something that they know. This is tested via two dolls, Sally and Ann, who play out a scenario. Sally puts a marble in her basket and leaves the room. Ann moves the marble to her box. Then Sally comes back and wants to play with her marble. The child is asked where Sally will look for her marble. If the child answers in the box then they are deemed to lack ‘Theory of Mind’. That is that they are not able to see the situation from Sally’s point of view but only from their own knowledge. They do not take into account that Sally did not see the marble being moved.

Many autistic adults are understandably offended when they are told that autistic people lack Theory of Mind. Many autistic adults can pass this test effortlessly and they do understand that different people have different beliefs and perceptions. It may be that autistic children, in general, develop this skill more slowly than non-autistic children.

However, if you can pass the Sally-Ann test, it won’t get you very far with the complexities of social interaction, which is about understanding how people are feeling, their motivations and beliefs so that you can engage in the enjoyable (to most people) to and fro of social interaction.

Importance of Theory of Mind in Social Interaction

A much more advanced version of Theory of Mind is required for this. A Theory of Mind that has an in-depth understanding of the characters, personalities, and motivations of a wide range of different people. This is not beyond the learning capabilities of many autistic people. However, the real time application of this knowledge means being able to deduce what other people are thinking and feeling from the various context and situational sensitive social norms and cues while formulating and then articulating appropriate responses. This includes being able to simultaneously process emotion and deeper and hidden meanings behind the literal meaning of what is said. It means being able to infer how someone ticks just by interacting with them. Applying social norms correctly also requires theory of mind because the context includes the feelings and beliefs of the person you are talking to.

People vary in their ability to do this. Many people find it difficult to communicate and socialise with people who think differently to themselves and who hold different beliefs. They tend to surround themselves with similar people. This is a well-known potential issue with interviews and techniques have been developed to try to overcome this. However, there are people who are much more skilled in talking to other people. They have the knack of being able to get on with nearly everyone. They are interested in people in general and curious about how other people tick.

Developing Theory of Mind

Social interaction is a very complex skill that takes a child their whole childhood and early adulthood to develop. Most children used to develop it with minimal effort via interaction with other children, their parents and other adults. Now a problem is developing that some children are not developing effective social interaction skills because they don’t spend enough time interacting with their peers and other children and adults. Electronic communication is not a good medium for developing these skills. This becomes a problem when they enter the workforce.

Theory of Mind can be taught. This can be achieved via character studies of characters in books, films, cartoons, etc. Discuss why someone reacted the way they did, what they might be thinking and why. Autistic people can learn this too. They can even learn to recognise patterns of deception, and deviousness, especially when these are in writing such as on social media.

Autism, Theory of Mind, and Social Interaction

Some autistic people develop a complex theory of mind naturally. They have a very good understanding of how other people tick, but unfortunately they are not able to demonstrate this ability in real time during social communication because of issues like delayed processing or because they are not able to communicate via speaking. Some have demonstrated this understanding during interviews where they communicate via typing, or via writing a book, or via their spoken monologues.

For some autistic people the barriers for even talking to someone are so high that they cannot engage in any form of conversation that is not scripted or which mostly involves them talking about their favourite subject. Not all autistic people who either don’t speak or who have little or no control over what they say are able to learn to communicate via pointing or typing. With this level of autism, lack of theory of mind is the least of their issues.

Because autistic people are able to learn theory of mind, this is not be a key reason why they struggle with face to face social interaction and fail to completely master it. This is because the application of theory of mind depends on being able to process beyond the literal meaning of words, being able to process emotion information, and being able to pick up on visual cues all in real time, as well as an in depth knowledge of situational and context dependent social norms. Autistic people struggle with the application of theory of mind in one or more of these areas because of the underlying issues that cause their autistic symptoms. Issues such as slow or delayed processing, or the inability to engage in social emotional reciprocity.

When an autistic individual has failed to learn theory of mind, for example because of maladaptive coping strategies such as rote learning everything, but still demonstrates a desire to connect with other people, then it is likely that teaching Theory of Mind would improve their quality of life significantly.