Children's performance on a false-belief task is impaired by activation of an evolutionarily-canalized response system.
We examine whether children's performance on a false-belief task is impaired by task content that activates an early-developing, prepotent motivational system: predator-avoidance. In two studies (N = 46 and N = 37), children aged 3-4 years completed variants of a false-belief task that involved predator-avoidance, playmate-avoidance, prey-seeking, and playmate-seeking, respectively. The proportion of correct answers on the playmate-avoidance task (Study 1: 52%; Study 2: 51%) was significantly greater than the proportion of correct answers on the analogous predator-avoidance task (Study 1: 28%; Study 2: 22%). This difference was not an artifact of children generally performing better on playmate stories than on predator-prey stories. The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that activation of the predator-avoidance system generates prepotent response patterns that pre-empt full consideration of the mental states of the prey characters in false-belief stories.
Keenan
Thomas
T
Department of Psychology (Experimental Psychology), University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand. t.keenan@psyc.canterbury.ac.nz
Ellis
Bruce J
BJ
D005075:Biological Evolution; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002657:Child Development; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D003469:Culture; D003657:Decision Making; D004924:Escape Reaction; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D006801:Humans; D009042:Motivation; D010988:Play and Playthings; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012938:Social Perception