Psychology Department, Edge Hill University, Ormskirk, L39 4PY, UK.
Psychol Res. 2021 Oct;85(7):2755-2768. doi: 10.1007/s00426-020-01441-x. Epub 2020 Nov 19.
Theory of mind (ToM), the ability to understand that others have different knowledge and beliefs to ourselves, has been the subject of extensive research which suggests that we are not always efficient at taking another's perspective, known as visual perspective taking (VPT). This has been studied extensively and a growing literature has explored the individual-level factors that may affect perspective taking (e.g. empathy and group membership). However, while emotion and (dis)liking are key aspects within everyday social interaction, research has not hitherto explored how these factors may impact ToM.
A total of 164 participants took part in a modified director task (31 males (19%), M age = 20.65, SD age = 5.34), exploring how correct object selection may be impacted by another's emotion (director facial emotion; neutral × happy × sad) and knowledge of their (dis)likes (i.e. director likes specific objects).
When the director liked the target object or disliked the competitor object, accuracy rates were increased relative to when he disliked the target object or liked the competitor object. When the emotion shown by the director was incongruent with their stated (dis)liking of an object (e.g. happy when he disliked an object), accuracy rates were also increased. None of these effects were significant in the analysis of response time. These findings suggest that knowledge of liking may impact ToM use, as can emotional incongruency, perhaps by increasing the saliency of perspective differences between participant and director.
As well as contributing further to our understanding of real-life social interactions, these findings may have implications for ToM research, where it appears that more consideration of the target/director's characteristics may be prudent.
心理理论（ToM），即理解他人拥有与自己不同的知识和信念的能力，一直是广泛研究的主题，研究表明，我们并不总是能够有效地从他人的角度看问题，这被称为视觉视角转换（VPT）。这已经被广泛研究过，越来越多的文献探讨了可能影响视角转换的个体因素（例如同理心和群体成员身份）。然而，尽管情感和（不）喜欢是日常社交互动的关键方面，但迄今为止，研究尚未探讨这些因素如何影响心理理论。
共有 164 名参与者参与了一项经过修改的导演任务（31 名男性（19％），M 年龄= 20.65，SD 年龄= 5.34），探讨了另一个人的情绪（导演的面部表情；中性×快乐×悲伤）和对他们（不）喜好的了解（即导演喜欢特定的物体）如何影响正确的物体选择。
当导演喜欢目标物体或不喜欢竞争物体时，相对于当他不喜欢目标物体或喜欢竞争物体时，准确性会提高。当导演表现出的情绪与他们对物体的（不）喜好不一致时（例如，当他不喜欢一个物体时感到高兴），准确性也会提高。在分析反应时间时，这些影响都不显著。这些发现表明，对喜好的了解可能会影响心理理论的使用，而情绪不一致性可能会增加参与者和导演之间视角差异的显著性，从而产生影响。
这些发现除了进一步加深我们对现实生活中社交互动的理解外，还可能对心理理论研究产生影响，因为似乎需要更多地考虑目标/导演的特征。
