Art films foster theory of mind

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Abstract

Research shows that reading literary but not popular fiction enhances the Theory of Mind (ToM). This article builds on the symmetry between literary theory and film theory and investigates whether exposure to art films, but not Hollywood films, enhances ToM. Participants ( N = 232) were randomly assigned to view either art or Hollywood films and then answered questions about the film and its characters before completing two separate measures of ToM (the Read the Mind in the Eyes Test and the Moral Judgement Task). Results showed that art film viewers scored higher on both ToM measures and that the effect was sequentially mediated by perception of complexity and predictability of the characters. The findings are discussed in the context of the emerging literature on the impact of fiction on social cognition.

Related collections

Most cited references 82

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models

Kristopher J Preacher, Andrew Hayes (2004)

0 comments Cited 1743 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: not found
Article: not found

The "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test Revised Version: A Study with Normal Adults, and Adults with Asperger Syndrome or High-functioning Autism

Simon Baron-Cohen, Sally Wheelwright, Jacqueline Hill … (2001)

0 comments Cited 521 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?

David Premack, Guy Woodruff (1978)

An individual has a theory of mind if he imputes mental states to himself and others. A system of inferences of this kind is properly viewed as a theory because such states are not directly observable, and the system can be used to make predictions about the behavior of others. As to the mental states the chimpanzee may infer, consider those inferred by our own species, for example, purpose or intention , as well as knowledge, belief, thinking, doubt, guessing, pretending, liking , and so forth. To determine whether or not the chimpanzee infers states of this kind, we showed an adult chimpanzee a series of videotaped scenes of a human actor struggling with a variety of problems. Some problems were simple, involving inaccessible food – bananas vertically or horizontally out of reach, behind a box, and so forth – as in the original Kohler problems; others were more complex, involving an actor unable to extricate himself from a locked cage, shivering because of a malfunctioning heater, or unable to play a phonograph because it was unplugged. With each videotape the chimpanzee was given several photographs, one a solution to the problem, such as a stick for the inaccessible bananas, a key for the locked up actor, a lit wick for the malfunctioning heater. The chimpanzee's consistent choice of the correct photographs can be understood by assuming that the animal recognized the videotape as representing a problem, understood the actor's purpose, and chose alternatives compatible with that purpose.

0 comments Cited 507 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Emanuele Castano: (View ORCID Profile)

Journal

Title: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications

Abbreviated Title: Humanit Soc Sci Commun

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

ISSN (Electronic): 2662-9992

Publication date Created: December 2021

Publication date (Electronic): May 25 2021

Publication date (Print): December 2021

Volume: 8

Issue: 1

Article

DOI: 10.1057/s41599-021-00793-y

SO-VID: 305016d1-0a5d-4af5-9d2c-68540acbc2d5

License:

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0

History

Data availability:

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Smart Citations

Citing PublicationsSupportingMentioningContrasting

View Citations

See how this article has been cited at scite.ai

scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.