Perspective-taking is spontaneous but not automatic

Abstract

Data from a range of different experimental paradigms -- in particular (but not only) the dot perspective task -- have been interpreted as evidence that humans automatically track the perspective of other individuals. Results from other studies, however, have cast doubt on this interpretation, and some researchers have suggested that phenomena that seem like perspective-taking might instead be the products of simpler behavioural rules. The issue remains unsettled in significant part because different schools of thought, with different theoretical perspectives, implement the experimental tasks in subtly different ways, making direct comparisons difficult. Here, we explore the possibility that subtle differences in experimental method explain otherwise irreconcilable findings in the literature. Across five experiments we show that the classic result in the dot perspective task is not automatic (it is not purely stimulus-driven), but nor is it exclusively the product of simple behavioural rules that do not involve mentalizing. Instead, participants do compute the perspectives of other individuals rapidly, unconsciously and involuntarily, but only when attentional systems prompt them to do so (just as, for instance, the visual system puts external objects into focus only as and when required). This finding prompts us to clearly distinguish spontaneity from automaticity. Spontaneous perspective-taking may be a computationally efficient means of navigating the social world.

How robust are egocentric and altercentric interference effects in social cognition? a test with explicit and implicit versions of a continuous false belief task

“…However, this task is not free from replication issues and validity debates. Some of the later studies using the variations of the dot-perspective task either revealed no bias (e.g., Conway et al, 2017) or the biases were subject to alternative explanations by domain-general mechanisms rather than implicit mentalizing (e.g., Santiesteban et al, 2014;Cole et al, 2016;Conway et al, 2017;O'Grady et al, 2017). As an example of the latter, Santiesteban et al (2014) tested participants in two different versions of the dot perspective task: some trials featured an avatar as in previous experiments, and in the other trials, the avatar was replaced by an arrow with similar low-level features such as color, size, and orientation.…”

Perspective-taking and social inferences in adolescents, young adults, and older adults.

“…However, they make distinct contributions to ToM. Perspective-taking is a means through which people can infer others' mental states (i.e., by adopting their point of view, or their visual perspective), and can be activated relatively spontaneously (O'Grady et al, 2020;Samson et al, 2010). Social inferences about other people (e.g., what they think, want, or feel) influence impression formation, and can be executed either while directly observing behavior, or at a later point, from a memory record of this observed behavior or other information (Apperly, 2010).…”