title: Mind reading as behaviour reading: Behavour analysis and perspective taking

authors: Taylor, Tokiko

subjects: Theory of Mind

abstract: Theory of Mind (ToM) presents perspective-taking as an ability to infer another person’s mental state. Researchers in various fields have searched for evidence of ToM in both human and non-human subjects; however, this approach is highly “mentalistic,” and rarely scrutinized in the relevant literature. Attempts to identify the behavioural functions of the stimuli involved in perspective taking are still in their infancy. My primary aim was to evaluate and further refine existing behavioural approaches to perspective taking. I focused on the environmental settings required for a person to engage in deriving a perspective of another person, and how the acquired stimulus functions are generalised to novel contexts. First, I examined the integrity of the concept of “deictic framing,” which proposes that deictic expressions (I-You, Here-There, Now-Then) are the core components of perspective-taking behaviour, as defined within relational frame theory (RFT). Participants were first trained with the existing deictic-framing protocol with and without the deictic expressions. I then measured response generalisation using two different tasks designed to measure perspective taking: a visuospatial and an implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). No evidence of response generalisation to the other tasks was observed. Additionally, there was no difference in the performance of the participants in the two experimental groups, suggesting that deictic expressions do not have their claimed core status in perspective taking. Secondly, I examined the Relational Triangulation (RT) framework to investigate whether a specific stimulus function (i.e., perspective) would be derived in accordance with contextual stimuli bearing same and oppositional relational properties. The findings supported the broader applicability of the RT framework; however, there are many perspective-taking tasks that are beyond its scope. After considering the findings from these two experiments, I developed the proposition that we can treat perspective taking as problem-solving behaviour because there are considerable overlaps between the core behaviour relevant to various perspective-taking and problem-solving tasks, including stimulus generalisation of relevant stimuli, simple and complex discriminative stimulus functions, and relational responses. Based on this conceptual analysis, I hypothesised that a common false-belief task, the Sally-Anne test, can be represented and evaluated purely by using the concept of stimulus control. I used a conditional discrimination task in which reinforcement for identifying an individual’s false belief depended on a stimulus change in a given setting. Participants completed a non-verbal computer task and selected a particular stimulus dependent on certain stimulus changes, replicating the conditional discriminative stimuli available in this false-belief task. Approximately 61% of participants in Experiment 1 and 88% in Experiment 2 successfully discriminated the pattern of stimulus changes. In conclusion, analysis of the stimulus functions involved in deriving another’s perspective suggests that mind-reading is in fact a type of behaviour-reading. With this functional definition, we can help to address the practical challenge of resolving perspective-taking deficits in a range of contexts.

text: Mind reading as behaviour reading: Behavour analysis and perspective taking Theory of Mind (ToM) presents perspective-taking as an ability to infer another person’s mental state. Researchers in various fields have searched for evidence of ToM in both human and non-human subjects; however, this approach is highly “mentalistic,” and rarely scrutinized in the relevant literature. Attempts to identify the behavioural functions of the stimuli involved in perspective taking are still in their infancy. My primary aim was to evaluate and further refine existing behavioural approaches to perspective taking. I focused on the environmental settings required for a person to engage in deriving a perspective of another person, and how the acquired stimulus functions are generalised to novel contexts. First, I examined the integrity of the concept of “deictic framing,” which proposes that deictic expressions (I-You, Here-There, Now-Then) are the core components of perspective-taking behaviour, as defined within relational frame theory (RFT). Participants were first trained with the existing deictic-framing protocol with and without the deictic expressions. I then measured response generalisation using two different tasks designed to measure perspective taking: a visuospatial and an implicit relational assessment procedure (IRAP). No evidence of response generalisation to the other tasks was observed. Additionally, there was no difference in the performance of the participants in the two experimental groups, suggesting that deictic expressions do not have their claimed core status in perspective taking. Secondly, I examined the Relational Triangulation (RT) framework to investigate whether a specific stimulus function (i.e., perspective) would be derived in accordance with contextual stimuli bearing same and oppositional relational properties. The findings supported the broader applicability of the RT framework; however, there are many perspective-taking tasks that are beyond its scope. After considering the findings from these two experiments, I developed the proposition that we can treat perspective taking as problem-solving behaviour because there are considerable overlaps between the core behaviour relevant to various perspective-taking and problem-solving tasks, including stimulus generalisation of relevant stimuli, simple and complex discriminative stimulus functions, and relational responses. Based on this conceptual analysis, I hypothesised that a common false-belief task, the Sally-Anne test, can be represented and evaluated purely by using the concept of stimulus control. I used a conditional discrimination task in which reinforcement for identifying an individual’s false belief depended on a stimulus change in a given setting. Participants completed a non-verbal computer task and selected a particular stimulus dependent on certain stimulus changes, replicating the conditional discriminative stimuli available in this false-belief task. Approximately 61% of participants in Experiment 1 and 88% in Experiment 2 successfully discriminated the pattern of stimulus changes. In conclusion, analysis of the stimulus functions involved in deriving another’s perspective suggests that mind-reading is in fact a type of behaviour-reading. With this functional definition, we can help to address the practical challenge of resolving perspective-taking deficits in a range of contexts.

year: 2022

title: Rugged individualism versus co-operative enterprise: different responses by New Zealand pastoral farmers to agricultural change

authors: Jay, Grace Mairi M.

subjects: geography

abstract: In relation to sustainable land use, this paper explores the different responses by New Zealand dairy farmers on the one hand and sheep and beef ('drystock') farmers on the other, to changing global trade patterns and government policies over the past fifteen years.

text: Rugged individualism versus co-operative enterprise: different responses by New Zealand pastoral farmers to agricultural change In relation to sustainable land use, this paper explores the different responses by New Zealand dairy farmers on the one hand and sheep and beef ('drystock') farmers on the other, to changing global trade patterns and government policies over the past fifteen years.

year: 1999

title: Te karanga tūturu o maieke:  Ngāti Kuri women’s taiao geographies

authors: Ringham, Sandra Lee

subjects: Māori and Indigenous geographies

abstract: This research examines the relationships, identities and sense of belonging of Māori women of within the Ngāti Kuri iwi (tribe) and te taiao (the natural world, environment, nature, country) in Te Hiku o te Ika, Far North, Aotearoa New Zealand. It shows how Ngāti Kuri women and te taiao are embedded in - yet also resist - colonial and patriarchal discourses. 
The Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine theoretical framework decolonises and transforms the ways in which Māori women have been represented and marginalised. Pūrākau (storywork) as a theory and methodology ensures Ngāti Kuri women’s stories are told by them and for them. Indigenous relational geography is woven into the theoretical framework to further understand Indigenous relationships to place and diverse feelings of belonging and responsibility.
Whakawhiti kōrero (research conversations), wānanga (workshops) and tipi haere (mobile wānanga) were carried out with 19 Ngāti Kuri women. Approximately 40 people from the iwi and / or scientific communities contribute to the thesis through the initiatives of the Ngāti Kuri Relationship Working Group (NKRWG), the Auckland War Memorial Museum and other research partners and as conservationists. 
Findings are organised around three themes: identities; relationships; and a sense of belonging. The first theme introduces Ngāti Kuri women’s identities as leaders and drivers of change, disrupting and dismantling the intersection of patriarchal and colonial discourse. The pūrākau of Maieke, a founding ancestress of Ngāti Kuri, brings to light the reclamation and transformation of Māori women’s identities and geographies, as defined by participants. Pre-colonisation Ngāti Kuri women had the capacity and authority to become a governing force in the daily lives of the iwi. The second theme highlights colonial and patriarchal naming of our world. Ngāti Kuri women are reconfiguring relationships and representation through the scientific naming of taonga (culturally valuable objects and species). Values and principles of kaitiakitanga (inherited guardianship) and whakawhanaugatanga (relating well to others) guide the naming process. The third theme focuses on participants’ reflections and understandings of the ways in which they sense place and feelings of belonging. Participants’ engagement with te taiao - through singing, storying and sensing place – highlights the way te taiao re-centres and transforms Ngāti Kuri women’s relationships and experiences of belonging to iwi homelands.
Importantly, the thesis concludes with a discussion of the challenges, successes and actions of Ngāti Kuri women as they continue to strive for tino rangatiratanga (self-determination), social and environmental well-being. I conceptualise new geographies that account for, and celebrate, uniquely Ngāti Kuri understandings of identities, relationships and feelings of belonging. Finally, a short creative story ends the thesis in order to show the transformative power of Ngāti Kuri women’s te taiao experiences.

text: Te karanga tūturu o maieke:  Ngāti Kuri women’s taiao geographies This research examines the relationships, identities and sense of belonging of Māori women of within the Ngāti Kuri iwi (tribe) and te taiao (the natural world, environment, nature, country) in Te Hiku o te Ika, Far North, Aotearoa New Zealand. It shows how Ngāti Kuri women and te taiao are embedded in - yet also resist - colonial and patriarchal discourses. 
The Kaupapa Māori and Mana Wahine theoretical framework decolonises and transforms the ways in which Māori women have been represented and marginalised. Pūrākau (storywork) as a theory and methodology ensures Ngāti Kuri women’s stories are told by them and for them. Indigenous relational geography is woven into the theoretical framework to further understand Indigenous relationships to place and diverse feelings of belonging and responsibility.
Whakawhiti kōrero (research conversations), wānanga (workshops) and tipi haere (mobile wānanga) were carried out with 19 Ngāti Kuri women. Approximately 40 people from the iwi and / or scientific communities contribute to the thesis through the initiatives of the Ngāti Kuri Relationship Working Group (NKRWG), the Auckland War Memorial Museum and other research partners and as conservationists. 
Findings are organised around three themes: identities; relationships; and a sense of belonging. The first theme introduces Ngāti Kuri women’s identities as leaders and drivers of change, disrupting and dismantling the intersection of patriarchal and colonial discourse. The pūrākau of Maieke, a founding ancestress of Ngāti Kuri, brings to light the reclamation and transformation of Māori women’s identities and geographies, as defined by participants. Pre-colonisation Ngāti Kuri women had the capacity and authority to become a governing force in the daily lives of the iwi. The second theme highlights colonial and patriarchal naming of our world. Ngāti Kuri women are reconfiguring relationships and representation through the scientific naming of taonga (culturally valuable objects and species). Values and principles of kaitiakitanga (inherited guardianship) and whakawhanaugatanga (relating well to others) guide the naming process. The third theme focuses on participants’ reflections and understandings of the ways in which they sense place and feelings of belonging. Participants’ engagement with te taiao - through singing, storying and sensing place – highlights the way te taiao re-centres and transforms Ngāti Kuri women’s relationships and experiences of belonging to iwi homelands.
Importantly, the thesis concludes with a discussion of the challenges, successes and actions of Ngāti Kuri women as they continue to strive for tino rangatiratanga (self-determination), social and environmental well-being. I conceptualise new geographies that account for, and celebrate, uniquely Ngāti Kuri understandings of identities, relationships and feelings of belonging. Finally, a short creative story ends the thesis in order to show the transformative power of Ngāti Kuri women’s te taiao experiences.

year: 2022