Stepwise training supports strategic second-order theory of mind in turn-taking games
People model other people's mental states in order to understand and predict their behavior. Sometimes they model what others think about them as well: ``He thinks that I intend to stop.'' Such second-order theory of mind is needed to navigate some social situations, for example, to m...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Cambridge University Press
2018-01-01
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| Series: | Judgment and Decision Making |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://journal.sjdm.org/13/131115/jdm131115.pdf |
| _version_ | 1797707756516409344 |
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| author | Rineke Verbrugge Ben Meijering Stefan Wierda Hedderik van Rijn Niels Taatgen |
| author_facet | Rineke Verbrugge Ben Meijering Stefan Wierda Hedderik van Rijn Niels Taatgen |
| author_sort | Rineke Verbrugge |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | People model other
people's mental states in order to understand and predict their behavior.
Sometimes they model what others think about them as well: ``He thinks that I
intend to stop.'' Such second-order theory of mind is needed to navigate some
social situations, for example, to make optimal decisions in turn-taking games.
Adults sometimes find this very difficult. Sometimes they make decisions that
do not fit their predictions about the other player. However, the main
bottleneck for decision makers is to take a second-order perspective required
to make a correct opponent model. We report a methodical investigation into
supporting factors that help adults do better. We presented subjects with
two-player, three-turn games in which optimal decisions required second-order
theory of mind (Hedden and Zhang, 2002). We applied three ``scaffolds'' that,
theoretically, should facilitate second-order perspective-taking: 1) stepwise
training, from simple one-person games to games requiring second-order theory
of mind; 2) prompting subjects to predict the opponent's next decision before
making their own decision; and 3) a realistic visual task representation. The
performance of subjects in the eight resulting combinations shows that stepwise
training, but not the other two scaffolds, improves subjects' second-order
opponent models and thereby their own decisions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:11:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-df7694089b09404394773004859e74bc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1930-2975 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:11:05Z |
| publishDate | 2018-01-01 |
| publisher | Cambridge University Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Judgment and Decision Making |
| spelling | doaj.art-df7694089b09404394773004859e74bc2023-09-03T03:01:22ZengCambridge University PressJudgment and Decision Making1930-29752018-01-011317998Stepwise training supports strategic second-order theory of mind in turn-taking gamesRineke VerbruggeBen MeijeringStefan WierdaHedderik van RijnNiels TaatgenPeople model other people's mental states in order to understand and predict their behavior. Sometimes they model what others think about them as well: ``He thinks that I intend to stop.'' Such second-order theory of mind is needed to navigate some social situations, for example, to make optimal decisions in turn-taking games. Adults sometimes find this very difficult. Sometimes they make decisions that do not fit their predictions about the other player. However, the main bottleneck for decision makers is to take a second-order perspective required to make a correct opponent model. We report a methodical investigation into supporting factors that help adults do better. We presented subjects with two-player, three-turn games in which optimal decisions required second-order theory of mind (Hedden and Zhang, 2002). We applied three ``scaffolds'' that, theoretically, should facilitate second-order perspective-taking: 1) stepwise training, from simple one-person games to games requiring second-order theory of mind; 2) prompting subjects to predict the opponent's next decision before making their own decision; and 3) a realistic visual task representation. The performance of subjects in the eight resulting combinations shows that stepwise training, but not the other two scaffolds, improves subjects' second-order opponent models and thereby their own decisions.http://journal.sjdm.org/13/131115/jdm131115.pdfdecision making second-order theory of mind opponent modeling scaffolding turn-taking games sequential games centipede strategic reasoning perfect-information gamesNAKeywords |
| spellingShingle | Rineke Verbrugge Ben Meijering Stefan Wierda Hedderik van Rijn Niels Taatgen Stepwise training supports strategic second-order theory of mind in turn-taking games Judgment and Decision Making decision making second-order theory of mind opponent modeling scaffolding turn-taking games sequential games centipede strategic reasoning perfect-information gamesNAKeywords |
| title | Stepwise training
supports strategic second-order theory of mind in turn-taking games |
| title_full | Stepwise training
supports strategic second-order theory of mind in turn-taking games |
| title_fullStr | Stepwise training
supports strategic second-order theory of mind in turn-taking games |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stepwise training
supports strategic second-order theory of mind in turn-taking games |
| title_short | Stepwise training
supports strategic second-order theory of mind in turn-taking games |
| title_sort | stepwise training supports strategic second order theory of mind in turn taking games |
| topic | decision making second-order theory of mind opponent modeling scaffolding turn-taking games sequential games centipede strategic reasoning perfect-information gamesNAKeywords |
| url | http://journal.sjdm.org/13/131115/jdm131115.pdf |
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