The study investigated the effects of social anxiety and gender matching on theory of mind perspective taking abilities. 58 participants completed a theory of mind task under different conditions of anxiety (discussion of answers vs no discussion) and gender matching of the instructor. Results of a 2x2 ANOVA found no significant effects of anxiety, gender matching, or their interaction on task performance. Scores were similar across all conditions, suggesting that a socially anxious situation or gender differences did not impair cognitive resources or affect theory of mind perspective taking abilities.

1. Effects of Social Anxiety on Theory of Mind Perspective Perception Task
Method
•Participants
There were 58 total participants, 48 female and 10 male, which opted into the
experiment for extra credit in a general psychology course at the University of
Mississippi. The participants were grouped, in four condition groups, over four
separate test days.
•Materials and Procedure
Materials that were used were a powerpoint presentation for the experiment;
pen/pencil, a separate computer to read instructions from, a female presenter for
two days and a scoresheet. There were 9 questions given with 10 seconds to
complete each question. Approximately half the participants received a Male
instructor and half received a female instructor. The two IVs we investigated were
Anxiety and Gender matching and the effect they had on the DV, which is the
cognitive ability of a Theory of Mind perspective perception task. The participants
were asked questions from both the subject’s perspective and Tim’s perspective.
The conditions of the test were that half of the days we had a male instructor and
half a female, as noted before. Another condition we instilled was that on one of
each same instructor day subjects were told that after the test we were going to
discuss the answers out loud. We were testing for social anxiety in gender
representation.
Figure 1. created for experiment. Gridded A-D
and 1-4, the shelf has black and white cubicles,
the white being able to be seen through, and the
black closed off in the back. The stick man, Tim,
can not see the black cubicles, but can see the
white cubicles.
Results
•A 2x2 factorial ANOVA was conducted examining the effect of anxiety (Discussion/
No Discussion) and gender match (Same/Opposite) on a ToM perspective perception
task.
•There was no main effect of anxiety, F(1,54) = 1.079, p= .304, indicating that the
mean perspective taking score in the discussion group (M=5.92,SD=1.66) were
nearly identical to the perspective taking score in the non-discussion group.
(M=6.41,SD=1.76).
•There was also no main effect on gender match, F(1,54) =3.47, p= .644, indicating
that the mean perspective taking tasks of the same gender group (M=6.57,SD=1.78)
were nearly identical to individuals tested in different gender group.
(M=6.28,SD=1.62.
•Finally, the interaction between amount of anxiety and gender match was not
significant, F (1,54) = .63, p= .43.
•It seemed the amount of the anxiety did not depend on the gender of the participants
and instructor. Across the board, almost everybody performed very similarly,
(Match/Discussion M= 6.416)(No-match/Discussion M= 6.421)(Match/No-discussion
M= 5.571)(No-match/No-discussion M= 6.307) see figure 4.
Introduction
Theory of Mind is the ability to attribute mental states — beliefs, intents,
desires, pretending, knowledge, etc. — to oneself and others and to understand
that others have beliefs, desires, and intentions that are different from one's own.
Although studies in theory of mind tasks have been determined to be less
effective on individuals with schizoid and other spectrum disorders that might be
equivocated to a lapse in social intuition, (Romeo, et al., 2013) as well as studies
that show children of normal cognitive function having a natural intuition of
judgment and perspective taking ability, (Surtees, Apperly, 2012) the purpose of
this study was to determine whether a socially anxious situation, replicated with a
social anxiety task, would create a heavier cognitive load, straining cognitive
resources used to properly take a theory of mind perspective perception task, as
well as the extent gender matching of instructor and participant effects the
efficacy of the ToM task scores. We to hypothesize lower scores from
participants in socially anxious states of mind because more resources would be
allotted to the mind for sorting out the socially ambiguous situation, and
particularly lower in the social anxiety groups with a gender of the instructor that
differed from the participant. Discussion
Theory of mind is believed to use a significant amount of cognitive resources, thus leading us to
hypothesize lower scores from participants in socially anxious states of mind because more resources
would be allotted to the mind for sorting out the socially ambiguous situation, and particularly lower in
the social anxiety groups with a gender of the instructor that differed from the participant. There was no
significance recorded between the anxiety task groups and the non-task groups. The results show that
there is no significance between anxiety discussion groups, gender matched or not.
This would further prove the deficit between normally functioning individuals perception taking ability
with that of individuals with cognitive disabilities (Romeo, et al., 2013. Hezel, McNally, 2014) as well as
effectively demonstrating an individuals ability to naturally perceive and judge starting at a young age
and increasing in skill throughout life. (Surtees, Apperly, 2012) We did not find what we were expecting.
Our findings show that people will show similar results across the board on a theory of mind
perspective perception task when presented with cognitive stressors such as social anxiety and
opposite gender individuals. The results contribute to the knowledge of how individuals process and
allocate their cognitive resources, and that anxiety conditions do not seem to lower efficacy of
perceptive abilities in the individual. Future studies might seek to improve on this study by creating a
more detailed perspective taking theory of mind task, or perhaps another task all together to gauge the
efficacy of said task in high stress situations to conclude what might or might not be a major player in
cognitive disfunction. In conclusion there still remains much work to be done in finding what does and
does not create cognitive strain on individuals to the point of effecting perceptive functioning.
References
Hezel, & McNally, (2014). Theory of mind impairments in social anxiety
disorder. Behavior Therapy, 45(4), 530-540. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2014.02.010
How to Seem Telepathic: Enabling Mind Reading by Matching Construal.
Psychological Science May 2010 21: 700-705, first published on March 31, 2010
Surtees, Apperly, (2012). Egocentrism and Automatic Perspective Taking in
Children and Adults. Child Development, March ⁄ April 2012, Volume 83, Number 2,
Pages 452–460
Nicola Spotorno. Ira A. Noveck. (2014). Journal of Experimental
Psychology: General © 2014 American Psychological Association. 2014, Vol. 143,
No. 4, 1649 –1665 0096-3445/14/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/a0036630
Stefano Romeo, Alessio Chiandetti, Alberto Siracusano, Alfonso Troisi
(2013). An exploratory study of the relationship between neurological soft signs
and theory of mind deficits in schizophrenia.
Trip Devanney, Evan Riddell, Kevin Mills
University of Mississippi
0
2
4
6
8
Same Opposite
MeansDifferencescore
Gender Match
ToM Task
discussion
no discussion
Figure 4. It seemed the amount of the anxiety did
not depend on the gender of the participants and
instructor. Across the board, almost everybody
performed very similarly.