3:22am July 10, 2014

citations for why “theory of mind” is bullshit

this is the brief synopsis (in articles/citations) of over a years work reading basically everything ever written on these subjects. i still study them. i plan to continue studying them. but i want to crowdsource knowledge of this stuff, because “theory of mind” (as applied to autistic people, and as applied elsewhere) is actually an intellectual farce. here is why, if you’re up to reading:

why theory of mind is psychological/cognitive bullshit:

“The weirdest people in the world?” by Henrich, Heine and Norenzayan in Behavioral and Brain Sciences 33

it’s bullshit because 99% of psychological research is sooo non-representative of humanity as a whole that it’s not. even. funny.

“Joint Attention: Twelve Myths” by David A. Leavens in Joint Attention (2013)

theory of mind is bullshit because this is literally the greatest thing you’ll read in a long, long time. i would propose marriage to david leavens solely on the basis of this piece. all his other work? ALSO GREAT. but thisss. this was published IN THE SAME VOLUME as (and was actually the chapter right before) work by almost ALL the most famous social psychology/’theory of mind’ researchers in the world.

if you ever wanted to read someone INTELLECTUALLY WHOOPING SIMON BARON COHENS ASS IN A PUBLIC FORUM this is what you’ve been waiting for your whole life.

these arguments are on the topic of comparative psychology (i.e. comparing humans and other species—in this case, other ape/primate species) but they are like ALL relevant to human developmental psychology.

“Conceptual and Methodological Issues in the Investigation of Primate Intersubjectivity” by Racine, Leavens, Susswein, and Wereha, in Enacting Intersubjectivity (2008)

theory of mind is bullshit because the people who do all that research on babies and chimps and whatever else and autistic people and whatever…those people? yeah, they’re heinous at theoretical science AND heinous at experimental science. and here’s a discussion of why this is so by some great primatologists/comparative psychologists who work with non-human primates (including david leavens my boo).

why theory of mind is anthropological/cultural bullshit:

“Toward a cultural phenomenology of intersubjectivity: The extended relational field of the Tzotzil Maya of highland Chiapas, Mexico” by Kevin Groark in Language and Communication 33

“Speaking the Devil’s language: Ontological challenges to Mapuche intersubjectivity” by Magnus Course in Language and Communication 33

(preface about anthropology: these are nerdy white male anthropologists acting as authorities on non-white, non-western cultures to which they do not belong. i dislike ethnography 99.9% of the time for these reasons, but these articles are tolerably not-dickish and very insightful/relevant, so i’m citing them)

theory of mind is bullshit because none (NONE) of the “normal human social development” or “normal human social assumptions” that theory of mind researchers constantly reference are consistently present in cultures besides highly industrialized western cultures.

why theory of mind is sociological/ethical bullshit:

“The Pathos of ‘Mindblindness’: Autism, Science, and Sadness in ‘Theory of Mind’ Narratives” by John Duffy and Rebecca Dorner in Journal of Literary and Cultural Disability Studies 5:2

“Minds Between Us: Autism, mindblindness and the uncertainty of communication” by Anna McGuire and Rod Michalko in Educational Philosophy and Theory 43:2

boom boom boom theory of mind is bullshit because its so obviously an idea people have made up specifically to tell certain stories about autistic people AND about neurotypical people. and those stories they tell with theory of mind? they’re not innocent or neutral WHATSOEVER. they make up theories like this for a reason.

AND THEN the best of the best. this was published around the end of my year of researching this, when i had been told by my advisor that i needed to publish on the topic, and when i was sitting around saying “my life is in shambles, i am almost getting kicked out of school, all because i can’t write, how could i possibly write this now? but it needs to be written?” and then i saw this one morning, and spent the rest of the day dancing around campus. i squealed when i saw the title. just knowing that someone else was thinking about this in similar ways was enough to pull me through that time. i love this piece:

“Clinically Significant Disturbance: On Theorists who Theorize Theory of Mind” by Melanie Yergeau in Disability Studies Quarterly 33:4