Is implicit Theory of Mind a robust cognitive phenomenon? Large-scale, multi-lab replication and validation studies with children and adults

• Applicants: Professor Dr. Johannes Rakoczy; Dr. Tobias Schuwerk
• Subject Area: Developmental and Educational Psychology
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 434233896

Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to attribute mental states such as beliefs and desires to others and ourselves, is fundamental to human nature. Traditionally, ToM was thought to develop slowly over the preschool years, building on language and executive function. Recently, however, new research with measures such as looking time has revolutionized the field, suggesting that implicit forms of ToM may be present very early and keep on operating automatically and unconsciously throughout the lifespan. Far-reaching theoretical accounts have been developed from of these findings. However, the evidence from this research is still relatively sparse, often from studies with small samples. First replication attempts have recently produced very mixed findings, with complex patterns of non-, partial and successful replications. Similarly, critical validation studies (addressing the questions whether these tasks really tap ToM) have produced diverging results.What is needed, and what the current project will realize, are large-scale, pre-registered multi-lab replication and validation studies of implicit ToM. Under the umbrella of “ManyBabies”, a platform for multi-lab replication research in developmental psychology, we have founded an international consortium of scholars, including authors of the original studies and numerous leading ToM researchers from diverging theoretical perspectives. Coordinated and led by us, this consortium will collectively design, plan, pre-register, implement, conduct, analyze and publish systematic replication and validation studies of the central implicit ToM paradigms with young children and adults. Results from this project will provide a solid empirical basis for the field that allows us to judge conclusively whether implicit ToM is a robust phenomenon, and if so, what its nature and cognitive foundations are.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants