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Theory of mind and wisdom: The development of different forms of perspective‐taking in late adulthood
Author(s) -
Rakoczy Hannes,
Wandt Raphaela,
Thomas Stefanie,
Nowak Jana,
Kunzmann Ute
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/bjop.12246
Subject(s) - psychology , perspective (graphical) , generality , theory of mind , cognition , developmental psychology , dissociation (chemistry) , perception , perspective taking , social psychology , cognitive psychology , empathy , chemistry , artificial intelligence , neuroscience , computer science , psychotherapist
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 perspective‐taking (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.