Is belief reasoning automatic?

Ian Apperly, A Simpson, KJ Riggs, Dana Samson, C Chiavarino

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

131 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Understanding the operating characteristics of theory of mind is essential for understanding how beliefs, desires, and other mental states are inferred, and for understanding the role such inferences could play in other cognitive processes. We present the first investigation of the automaticity of belief reasoning. In an incidental false-belief task, adult subjects responded more slowly to unexpected questions concerning another person's belief about an object's location than to questions concerning the object's real location. Results in other conditions showed that responses to belief questions were not necessarily slower than responses to reality questions, as subjects showed no difference in response times to belief and reality questions when they were instructed to track the person's beliefs about the object's location. The results suggest that adults do not ascribe beliefs to agents automatically.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)841-844
Number of pages4
JournalPsychological Science
Volume17
Issue number10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Oct 2006

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Is belief reasoning automatic?'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this