The "False Belief" Test: Theory of Mind GIRL: We're going to have a tea party with Play-Doh. GIRL 2: I want to serve myself. GIRL 3: Here, Sarah. GIRL 2: No. NARRATOR: Well, you've probably discovered that however smart your three-year-old is, she doesn't seem able to put herself in someone else's mental shoes to imagine how they think and what they believe. Perhaps you thought your parenting skills were to blame. But scientists suggest that understanding other minds is a skill that may not be fully developed until a child is about four. To learn how children's social skills evolve between about three and four, researchers use something called a false belief test. What do you think's in this box? Looks fairly obvious, doesn't it? Crayons. But let me show you. I filled it full of candles. All right. Now I close it up again. While you and I have been having this conversation, Snoopy's been down here asleep-- doesn't know what we've talked about. But let's bring him into the conversation. Now I have another question for you. What do you think Snoopy will say if I ask him, what's in this box? Crayons, obviously. What else could anybody possibly say? Well, watch this three-year-old. WOMAN: What do you think is inside this box? BOY: Crayons. WOMAN: Let's open it up and see. BOY: Candles. ALISON GOPNIK: Now you can ask the child what appears to be a very simple question about that. What did you think was inside the box when you first saw it? They say, oh, I always thought there were candles in this box. Then you can ask them about someone else. So you can ask them about Snoopy. Snoopy's been sitting here. He hasn't seen this box. He's never seen us open it up. WOMAN: What does Snoopy think is inside this box? BOY: Candles. ALISON GOPNIK: Children say the same thing. Snoopy will think there are candles inside this box. And what that indicates is that the children's view of how minds work is very, very different from the view that you and I would have. WOMAN: Did you see it? NARRATOR: In the mind of the three-year-old, everyone sees the world much the same way. There's no difference between what I think and believe and what everyone else, including Snoopy, thinks and believes. It is, in a sense, a naive and innocent view of the world-- a kind of mental Eden. And then about four comes the fall from grace. ALISON GOPNIK: Now if you take a four-year-old, quite typically, the four-year-old will tell you that as a matter of fact, he thought there were crayons in the box. And then he found out that there were candles in the box. You can ask him about Snoopy. And he'll say, oh, no, Snoopy will think that there are crayons in this box. WOMAN: Wait, why will he think that? GIRL: Because it's a crayon box. WOMAN: Mm-hmm, that's right. And that's going to make him think they're crayons. What's really in the box? GIRL: Candles. WOMAN: Right. ALISON GOPNIK: And then you get the five-year-old who are just utterly blase and think that this is such an obvious thing, it's silly even to ask the question. What that shows is that by the time children are four and five, they have a view of the mind that looks much more like our view of the mind. They understand that things can be tricky and deceptive, that you can change your mind, that things aren't always the way that they seem. And that gives them a very different vision of how the mind works and how people work. GIRL: Remember, we're sharing this. GIRL 2: I need it. GIRL: And then it's my turn. NARRATOR: Children who pass the false belief test now understand that other people can have different beliefs, even mistaken beliefs. Some scientists suggest that this test is further evidence of innate brain circuits specialized for reading other people's minds. They call it a theory of mind mechanism.