It is not all about you: Communicative cooperation is determined by your partner’s theory of mind abilities as well as your own.

Abstract

We investigated the relationship between Theory of Mind (ToM) and communicative cooperation. Specifically, we examined whether communicative cooperation is affected by the ToM ability of one's cooperative partner as well as their own. ToM is the attribution of mental states to oneself and others; cooperation is the joint action that leads to achieving a shared goal. We measured cooperation using a novel communicative cooperation game completed by participants in pairs. ToM was measured via the Movies for Assessment of Social Cognition (MASC) task and fluid intelligence via the Raven task. Findings of 350 adults show that ToM scores of both players were predictors of cooperative failure, whereas Raven scores were not. Furthermore, participants were split into low-and high-ToM groups through a median split of the MASC scores: high-ToM individuals committed significantly fewer cooperative errors compared to their low-ToM counterparts. Therefore, we found a direct relationship between ToM and cooperation. Interestingly, we also examined how ToM scores of paired participants determine cooperation. We found that pairs with two high-ToM individuals committed significantly fewer errors compared to pairs with two low-ToM individuals. We speculate that reduced cooperation in lowlow ToM pairs is a result of less efficient development of conceptual alignment and recovery from misalignment, compared to high-high ToM dyads. For the first time, we thus demonstrate that it is not all about you; both cooperative partners make key, independent, contributions to cooperative outcomes.

Brain-to-brain coupling forecasts future joint action outcomes

“…On the other hand, we can also delve further into the specific individual characteristics that are associated with the underlying neural processes involved in successful social interactions. For example, as raised by Sebanz et al (2006) (Markiewicz et al, 2023), the next logical step is to explore the relationship between ToM abilities and the inter-person neural correlates of joint action. Furthermore, exploring individual differences in relation to the strategies employed by players and assessing the directionality of the interaction (i.e., leader versus follower) would be an intriguing avenue for future research (e.g., Konvalinka et al, 2010).…”

“…For example, as raised by Sebanz et al (2006) what is the extent to which joint action relies on Theory of Mind (ToM). Building upon our previous work demonstrating a connection between Theory of Mind and cooperation (Markiewicz et al, 2023), the next logical step is to explore the relationship between Theory of Mind abilities and the inter-person neural correlates of joint action. Furthermore, exploring individual differences in relation to the strategies employed by players and assessing the directionality of the interaction (i.e., leader versus follower) would be an intriguing avenue for future research (e.g., Konvalinka et al, 2010).…”