<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> Birch &amp; Bloom (2007) suggest that adults’ reasoning about other people’s mental states is influenced by their privileged knowledge about reality. When asked where a person described in a story would search for a missing object, participants tend to judge with higher probability that the person would search in a particular box when they know that the object is indeed in that box. However, the results of that experiment could be an effect of unintended priming in the experimental materials. The increased attention towards the box might be caused by reading about it in the task instructions. In a new version of the experiment, we controlled for this factor by priming different locations in the instructions. The results show that it is unlikely that priming is the source of Birch and Bloom’s observations: only knowledge about reality changed the participants’ strategies in reasoning about the actions of others.</p></abstract>

Birch & Bloom (2007) suggest that adults’ reasoning about other people’s mental states is influenced by their privileged knowledge about reality. When asked where a person described in a story would search for a missing object, participants tend to judge with higher probability that the person would search in a particular box when they know that the object is indeed in that box. However, the results of that experiment could be an effect of unintended priming in the experimental materials. The increased attention towards the box might be caused by reading about it in the task instructions. In a new version of the experiment, we controlled for this factor by priming different locations in the instructions. The results show that it is unlikely that priming is the source of Birch and Bloom’s observations: only knowledge about reality changed the participants’ strategies in reasoning about the actions of others.

Limitations in reasoning about false beliefs in adults: the effect of priming or the curse of knowledge?

Psychology of Language and Communication

Birch & Bloom (2007) suggest that adults’ reasoning about other people’s mental states is influenced by their privileged knowledge about reality. When asked...

Limitations in reasoning about false beliefs in adults: the effect of priming or the curse of knowledge?

Published Online: Dec 31, 2013

Page range: 269 - 278

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plc-2013-0017

Keywords
curse of knowledge, mental contamination, theory of mind

This content is open access.

Limitations in reasoning about false beliefs in adults: the effect of priming or the curse of knowledge?

Published Online: Dec 31, 2013

Page range: 269 - 278

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/plc-2013-0017

Keywordscurse of knowledge, mental contamination, theory of mind

This content is open access.

Keywords
curse of knowledge, mental contamination, theory of mind