According to Wikipedia, theory of mind is "the ability to attribute mental states such as beliefs, intents, desires, emotions and knowledge, among others, to oneself and to others." They also say it's "necessary to understanding that others have beliefs, desires, intentions, and perspectives that are different from one's own."
Well, I do understand that, so it's not like I entirely lack theory of mind. It could well be a little underdeveloped in me, though. That's probably one of the reasons I read a lot of reader-friendly psychology books. I'm always on the hunt for clues.
Of course having a well-developed TOM doesn't mean that it's going to be right. You've probably had the experience of having someone attribute a totally inaccurate motive to you.
2 comments:
While I undertand your being interested in the subject for the reasons you mentioned it's also true that we all develop coping mechanisms of one kind or another in response to whatever differences we know about ourselves. Your highly developed memory, abstract thought processes, language, and creative ability are talents rather than deficits.
It's also true that if the general (normal?) population is supposed to be so good at reading the intentions, desires, emotions etc. of everyone else then why are there so many self help books?
Well, we all have different talents as well. I'm perfectly happy being who I am, and have been more or less at peace for a while.
As the nursery rhyme says, "He walked up the hill backwards/So as not to see how high it was." Maybe a number of people are better able to do what they need to because of what they choose not to see.
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