Dr. Firth views theory of mind as a concept that can be taught this is incredibly important in that it takes theory of mind as a hypothetical construct that is just something we imagine going on and makes it an observable behavior that can be acquired. It makes it a little more user friendly in a way, something those of us who actually have a concept of theory of mind, can not be daunted by teaching it.
Dr. Firth breaks the development of theory of mind into four developmental stages. The first is recognizing mental states of others, then communicating them to others, manipulating them in others, and reflecting on mental states. This almost seems like a program guide when written out like this. We teach children to recognize emotions (mommy is crying she must be sad), communicate them ("Why are you sad?), manipulate emotions (if mommy is sad give her a hug to make her feel better), and reflect on emotions (Mommy was sad because her friend got hurt, I gave her a hug and she felt better). However I have never thought of any of this as teaching theory of mind. I thoroughly enjoyed Dr. Firth's lecture and take away from it what I have long believed to be true anyway. Anything can be taught it is just extremely important that we find the teaching technique that works before giving up on it.
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