Lesson 4.3.4.4

4.3.4.4 Social cognition: Selman, theory of mind and mirror neurons Quiz: AQA Psychology, Unit 3

20 questions

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Lesson 4.3.4.4, Social cognition: Selman, theory of mind and mirror neurons: 20 multiple choice questions for the AQA Psychology (7182), Unit 3: Issues and options in Psychology, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. What is Selman's theory about?

    • The development of social perspective-taking, in which children understand others' viewpoints more fully with age
    • The development of moral reasoning through a series of dilemmas
    • The development of physical strength in children and adolescents
    • The development of language in children from birth to adolescence

  2. What is theory of mind?

    • The understanding of gender stability over time
    • The understanding of how to solve arithmetic problems
    • The understanding of how the human brain stores memories
    • The understanding that other people have their own beliefs, desires and knowledge, which may differ from one's own

  3. What does the Sally-Anne study test?

    • Whether children understand that another person can hold a false belief
    • Whether children can count objects accurately
    • Whether children can recognise their own face in a mirror
    • Whether children can conserve liquid volume

  4. In the classic Sally-Anne task, why do children who have a developed theory of mind answer that Sally will look in the original place?

    • They understand that Sally did not see the object moved, so she holds a false belief
    • They have no understanding of where objects are kept
    • They are copying the answer of their classmates
    • They have forgotten where the object was placed

  5. What did research using the Sally-Anne task find about children under about four years old?

    • Most describe the task as too difficult to understand
    • Most correctly predict that the character will look in the original place
    • Most tend to predict that the character will look where the object actually is
    • Most refuse to answer any questions about the task

  6. Which of Selman's levels is the earliest, involving little differentiation between one's own and others' perspectives?

    • Level 3, mutual perspective-taking
    • Level 2, self-reflective perspective-taking
    • Level 0, egocentric or undifferentiated perspective-taking
    • Level 4, societal and symbolic perspective-taking

  7. Which of Selman's levels involves understanding that others can have a different perspective and that people can see each other's views?

    • Mutual perspective-taking
    • Egocentric perspective-taking
    • Societal perspective-taking only
    • Undifferentiated perspective-taking

  8. What is the mirror neuron system thought to be involved in?

    • Storing long-term memories of childhood events
    • Controlling the production of hormones in the body
    • Understanding others' actions and emotions, and possibly empathy and imitation
    • Producing the chromosomes that determine sex

  9. What is a mirror neuron?

    • A neuron that fires both when an individual performs an action and when they observe the same action in another
    • A neuron that stores memories of the individual's own face
    • A neuron that is only active in the spinal cord and not the brain
    • A neuron that only responds to the individual's own reflection in a mirror

  10. Why is the Sally-Anne study considered an important test of social cognition?

    • It assesses whether children can recognise letters of the alphabet
    • It assesses whether a child can understand another person's false belief, a key part of theory of mind
    • It assesses whether children can run quickly over a short distance
    • It assesses whether children can add two numbers together

  11. A child who believes that a friend will be upset because they were not told about a party is showing what kind of understanding?

    • Theory of mind, because the child attributes a mental state to the friend
    • Object permanence, because the child knows the party still exists
    • Conservation, because the child understands that quantity is unchanged
    • Class inclusion, because the child places the friend in a group

  12. Which evaluation of the Sally-Anne study is most appropriate?

    • It proves that all children have a fully developed theory of mind at birth
    • It is a useful test of false belief, but results may depend on the wording and the child's language ability
    • It shows that theory of mind has no connection to other people
    • It has no relevance to children with autism

  13. What does research on children with autism suggest about the Sally-Anne task?

    • Children with autism have no differences from other children on any social test
    • Children with autism are unable to understand any question at all
    • Children with autism always answer the question correctly
    • Many children with autism find the false belief question difficult, which has been linked to differences in theory of mind

  14. Which evaluation of the mirror neuron system is most appropriate?

    • It offers an interesting account of action understanding, but direct evidence for its role in complex human social cognition is still limited
    • It is fully established, so it explains all human social behaviour without question
    • It has been disproved by every study of social cognition
    • It shows that social cognition is entirely genetic and has no link to experience

  15. Which of these is most closely linked to perspective-taking?

    • Learning to add numbers in the concrete operational stage
    • Reducing a relationship to rewards and costs
    • Recognising that another person may see the world differently from oneself
    • Forming a schema for a household object

  16. A child says that a friend who was not at school will not know about the new rule. Which concept is shown?

    • Operant conditioning of rule-following
    • Egocentrism without any awareness of others at all
    • Perspective-taking and theory of mind, because the child considers what the friend knows
    • Conservation of number

  17. Which statement best describes the development of theory of mind?

    • It develops gradually through early childhood, with false belief understanding typically emerging around four years
    • It is fully present at birth and does not change
    • It is entirely unrelated to social experience
    • It begins only in adolescence after formal operational thinking

  18. A teacher uses a story in which a character hides a toy and another character moves it. What is the teacher probably testing?

    • Theory of mind, through an understanding of false belief
    • Gender constancy in Kohlberg's theory
    • Conservation of liquid volume
    • Object permanence in infants

  19. Which of these is a limitation of mirror neuron research in humans?

    • Much evidence comes from animal studies, so direct evidence in humans is harder to obtain
    • Mirror neurons are unrelated to any social behaviour
    • Mirror neurons cannot be studied at all with brain imaging
    • Mirror neurons have been measured in every human participant in every study

  20. Which of these describes the development of perspective-taking across Selman's levels?

    • It moves only from physical to mental perspectives in early infancy
    • It moves from undifferentiated views, to recognising other viewpoints, to understanding society-wide perspectives
    • It stays the same across the lifespan with no change in understanding
    • It moves from understanding society-wide perspectives to undifferentiated views

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