THEORY OF MİND

However, when we look at the current literature, it is a theory that comes across in many areas. When we look at the theory of mind from a historical point of view, it was first used as a concept in 1978. Premack and Woodruff (1978) claimed in a study that if we understand someone's situation, we can mentally make an inference even if we don't experience that situation. Premack and Woodruff supported these claims with their study with a group of chimpanzees.In the study, chimpanzees were able to choose pictures containing the appropriate solution to the event they were being watched at the end of the videos shown to them (Kılınçel, 2016; Soylu, 2023;Şahin vd., 2019). After this study, the research that evaluated the concept of the theory of mind in children for the first time was conducted by Wimmer and Permer in 1983. In this study, the researchers tested the children's ability to make mental inferences with the "unexpected displacement test and the stories they used for this test ( Kılınçel, 2016;Şahin vd., 2019). As a result of the experiment, they found that children can distinguish between their own beliefs and the beliefs of others after the age of 4. After these studies, studies on the theory of mind were accelerated in the 1990s and continued to be researched in areas such as clinical psychology, neuropsychology, developmental psychology and pathology (Kılınçel, 2016; Ekinci, 2023).

The biggest reason why the theory of mind is called a theory is that our beliefs about what is going on in someone else's head are just a guess, a theory (Gopnik and Wellman, 1992). Therefore, such a complex concept as theory of mind consists of various components. These components consist of: first-level false belief, second-level false belief, metaphor and irony comprehension, blunder (faux pas) comprehension skills (Kılınçel, 2016; Şahin vd., 2019).

The first level of false belief is the simplest and first developing skill of the theory of mind. The individual should be able to separate his own beliefs from the ideas and beliefs that the other person has here. The Sally-Anne test can be used for this step. According to this test, the first person puts the ball in the box on the right and leaves the room. The second person takes the ball from the box on the right and puts it on the left. The child is then asked where to look for the ball when the first person comes into the room. The child is expected to give the answer that the first person will look for the ball on the right, since he did not see the second person (Kılınçel, 2016; Şahin vd., 2019).

The second level of false belief, this stage is more complex (Soylu, 2023). At this stage, the individual needs to understand the thoughts of someone else, as well as what the third person thinks about him or the event. For this reason, it is tested by presenting a comparative story here. In Turkey, the Dokuz Eylül  Theory of Mind Scale has been proposed to investigate the theory of mind in various psychopathological cases such as autism and schizophrenia. this test, consisting of  2 stages, measures both first-level false belief and second-level false belief (Kılınçel, 2016; Şahin vd., 2019).

The concept of metaphor and irony is able to perceive the true meanings of sentences used in a figurative sense. This stage is very important for the development of language and communication. Understanding the other person's intention in communication allows communication to work. Especially children and individuals diagnosed with autism have difficulty understanding these metaphors during speech and distinguishing irony, which is more complex. . It is mentioned in the literature that this condition is related to the theory of mind  

(Kılınçel, 2016; Soylu, 2023; Şahin vd., 2019).

Blunder (faux pas) comprehend is quite complicated at this stage, which can also be considered as “Pot kırmak” in Turkish . This stage is seen as the stage where the theory of mind can be best measured. This is because the person needs to use both emotional (the shame felt, empathy for the offense) and the cognitive component (understanding that it should not be said) (Kılınçel, 2016; Soylu, 2023; Şahin vd., 2019).

In a nut shell, the theory of mind theory consists of two components as cognitive (social cognitive theory of mind) and emotional (social-perceptual theory of mind) (Ekinci,  2023).Çocuklarda 18 ay ile 3 yaş arası başlasa da bu beceri 4 yaşından sonra tamamen kazanılır. (Karakelle and  Ertuğrul, 2012; Şahin vd., 2019). recently psychologists and psychiatrists begun to research about its relationship with pathological conditions and neurological and physiological disorders/changes (Ekinci, 2023). Finally, do not forget that the performance of individuals towards the theory of mind theory can be influenced by the environment, family, development and cultural elements that a person has.

References

Ekinci, A. (2023). Yaşlanmada Zihin Kuramı’nın Klinik Durumlarda Gözden Geçirilmesi.   Yaşlı Sorunları Araştırma Dergisi, 16(2), 94-103. https://doi.org/10.46414/yasad.1329891

Gopnik, A., & Wellman, H. M. (1992). Why the Child’s Theory of Mind Really Is a Theory.

Karakelle, S., & Ertuğrul, Z. (2012). Zihin kuramı ile çalışma belleği, dil becerisi ve yönetici işlevler arasındaki bağlantılar küçük  (36-48 ay) ve büyük (53-72 ay) çocuklarda farklılık gösterebilir mi?. Türk Psikoloji Dergisi, 27(70), 1-21.

Kılınçel, Ş. (2016). Major depresif bozukluğu olan ergenlerde zihin kuramı işlev bozukluğu (Yayınlanmamış Uzmanlık Tezi, Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi). http://hdl.handle.net/11452/9464

Soylu, C. (2023). Yetişkin ve Yaşlılarda Zihin Kuramının Ölçülmesi ve Zihin Kuramı Performansında Yaşa Bağlı Değişiklikler. Yaşam Becerileri Psikoloji Dergisi, 7(13),19-31.

 https://doi.org/10.31461/ybpd.1255701

Şahin, B., Bozkurt, A., Usta, M. B., Aydın, M., Çobanoğlu, C., ve Karabekiroğlu, K. (2019). Zihin kuramı: gelişim, nörobiyoloji, ilişkili alanlar ve Nörogelişimsel Bozukluklar. Psikiyatride Güncel Yaklaşımlar, 11(1), 24-41. https://doi.org/10.18863/pgy.390629