Learning to read may shape how adults reason about what others believe
Can learning to read change how we think about other people’s minds? Among 76 Turkish women, reading fluency was the strongest predictor of performance on a test of reasoning about what one person thinks another believes.
A new research study has found a strong correlation between reading abilities and an adult's ability to reason about what others believe. Published in PLoS One, the findings suggest that literacy and formal schooling may play a role in shaping this advanced social reasoning, often referred to as "Theory of Mind."
Theory of Mind is the concept that individuals can recognize that others have distinct thoughts, desires, and intentions. This ability is crucial for understanding social interactions and is typically acquired during childhood, between the ages of 8 and 10. However, this study, conducted by Tan Arda Gedik of Bilkent University and Friedrich Alexander Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, aimed to determine if the literacy status of adults could influence their Theory of Mind abilities.
The researchers recruited 76 female Turkish speakers, half of whom were illiterate and the other half were literate. The illiterate participants had received only a few months of formal education on average, while the literate group had an average of over 17 years of formal schooling. The study utilized several tests to assess cognitive and academic abilities, including a reading fluency test, an emotional Stroop task to measure inhibitory control, and the Raven’s Colored Progressive Matrices to gauge nonverbal intelligence.
The illiterate group performed significantly lower on reading fluency tests and the nonverbal intelligence test compared to the literate group. However, when it came to understanding false beliefs - the core of Theory of Mind - the illiterate participants scored about 20% on average, while the literate participants scored about 80%.
This discrepancy suggests that literacy and formal education may contribute to an individual's ability to reason about others' perspectives, even in adults. The study highlights the importance of literacy in cognitive development and social reasoning, especially in a population of roughly 700 million illiterate adults worldwide, as stated by UNESCO.
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