Theory of mind and wisdom: The development of different forms of perspective‐taking in late adulthood

Abstract

How does perspective-taking develop over the lifespan? This question has been investigated in two separate research traditions, dealing with theory of mind (ToM) and wisdom, respectively. Operating in almost complete isolation from each other, and using rather different conceptual approaches, these two traditions have produced seemingly contradictory results: While perspective-taking has been consistently found to decline in old age in ToM research, studies on wisdom have mostly found that perspective-taking remains constant or sometimes even increases in later adulthood. This study sought to integrate these two lines of research and clarify the seemingly contradictory patterns of findings by systematically testing for both forms of perspective-taking and their potential cognitive foundations. The results revealed (1) the dissociation in developmental patterns between ToM perspective-taking (declining with age) and wisdom-related perspectivetaking (no decline with age) also held -documented here for the first time -in one and the same sample of younger versus older adults; (2) this dissociation was of limited generality: It did not (or only partly) hold once the material of the two types of tasks was more closely matched; and (3) the divergent developmental patterns of ToM perspective-taking versus wisdom-related perspective-taking could be accounted for to some degree by the fact that only TOM perspective-taking was related to developmental changes in fluid intelligence.

On the (lack of) association between theory of mind and executive functions: a study in a non-clinical adult sample

“…These results are in line with the few previous studies that directly investigated the relationships between affective and cognitive ToM and these two cognitive abilities. For example, concerning non-verbal fluid intelligence, Rakoczy et al 35 found that ToM performance in healthy adults, as assessed inter alia by the Happe's Strange Stories, is related to processing speed (generally considered one of the best proxies for fluid intelligence) but not to EFs. Similarly, Coyle et al 31 using structural equation modelling found a significant correlation between ToM and a factor of intelligence assessed by using a college admissions test strongly correlated with the non-verbal Raven's Matrices, suggesting that this factor might facilitate the ability to make complex inferences in everyday life including the inferences involved in understanding the mental states of others.…”

“…Particularly, we aimed to assess if the four above-mentioned subcomponents of EF domain, identified by Fisk and Sharp 21 , could be differently related to the affective vs. cognitive dimensions of ToM. Furthermore, since some studies have showed significant relationships between ToM functioning and other cognitive abilities 31 – 35 , the association between ToM and non-verbal fluid intelligence, verbal reasoning, and cognitive estimation abilities was also evaluated.…”

Individual differences in level of wisdom are associated with brain activation during a moral decision‐making task

“…Wisdom is commonly associated with emotional intelligence and theory of mind (Rakoczy, Wandt, Thomas, Nowak, & Kunzmann, ; Zacher, McKenna, & Rooney, ), domains that have also been shown to be related to the DMN (Mars et al, ). The common theme is that processes involved in wisdom, emotional intelligence, and theory of mind might reflect some aspect of imagined mental states, possibly related to the consequences of choices and their impact on one's own and others' feelings.…”

A Theory of Wisdom Needs Theory of Mind

“…In the model, PMC is a dialogical, self-reflective process that leads to the consideration of multiple, divergent perspectives related to the situation at hand, while also engendering a level of epistemic/intellectual humility. The distinction between self-focused and other-focused meta-cognition has long been recognized (Kitchener, 1983), and the authors point to some preliminary evidence that "perspective-taking" in the wisdom literature (i.e., PMC) is a distinct process from "perspective-taking" in the theory of mind literature (i.e., other-focused meta-cognition) (Rakoczy et al, 2018). While we see the value in making this intellectual distinction, in the context of the Common Wisdom Model we argue that ToM should not be 5 excluded from the definition of PMC, as doing so impedes the model's ability to consider the relationship between meta-cognition and moral aspirations as they relate to wisdom.…”