theory of mind

See also: Theory of Mind

English

Alternative forms

• Theory of Mind
• ToM (initialism)

Noun

theory of mind (countable and uncountable, plural theories of mind)

1. (psychology) The ability to form an opinion about what other people are thinking.

   Antonym: mindblindness

   Lack of theory of mind is a classic symptom of autism-spectrum disorders

   • 2017, Robert Sapolsky, chapter 7, in Behave, Penguin, →ISBN:

     Older kids understand more broadly that other people have different thoughts, beliefs, and knowledge than they, the landmark of achieving Theory of Mind (ToM).

2. (psychology, by extension) The intellectual ability to understand that different persons (other than the self) might have different intentions and knowledge.

Translations

ability to form an opinion about what other people are thinking

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 心智理論／心智理论 (xīnzhì lǐlùn)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Finnish: mielen teoria
• Greek: θεωρία του νου f (theoría tou nou), νοοθεωρία f (nootheoría)
• Hungarian: tudatelmélet
• Portuguese: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: please add this translation if you can

Further reading

• theory of mind on Wikipedia.Wikipedia