Advancing the Quantification of Mentalising Ability Across Development in Typical and Atypical Populations

: (Alternative Format Thesis)

Abstract

Social cognition – the cognitive processes by which we understand and predict other agents – is fundamental to our everyday social functioning. Issues with the conceptualisation and measurement of social-cognitive constructs, however, are hindering research progress into these important processes. The aim of this thesis is to advance the conceptualisation and quantification of social-cognitive constructs in typical and atypical populations, with a particular focus on Theory of Mind (ToM). The thesis begins with an overview of the literature, outlining current issues in the conceptualisation and measurement of social-cognitive constructs across the lifespan (Chapter 1). Next, after a brief overview of psychometric methods (Chapter 2), the thesis outlines the development of two novel ToM measures which overcome existing issues in the measurement of ToM across the lifespan (Chapter 3 and 4). The reliability and validity of one of these measures is discussed (Chapter 5), and its practical utility is demonstrated in a large-scale empirical study exploring socio-demographic and political predictors of ToM (Chapter 6). Refining conceptualisation of the ToM construct, two further empirical chapters are presented to better understand the (non)relatedness of ToM to another socially-relevant process, anthropomorphism (Chapter 7 and 8). Finally, the implications, limitations, and future directions of this research are discussed (Chapter 9). Overall, this thesis improves the conceptualisation and measurement of ToM and related processes across the lifespan, and advances social cognition research methods more generally.

Date of Award	2 Nov 2022
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	University of Bath
Supervisor	Mitch Callan (Supervisor), Punit Shah (Supervisor) & Graeme Fairchild (Supervisor)