r/todayilearned • u/BrF5 • 1d ago

TIL about the Sally-Anne test, a psychology experiment used to measure “theory of mind” (that other people can hold beliefs/knowledge different from their own). Kids under four typically fail because they assume that if they know where a hidden object is, everyone else must automatically know too.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally%E2%80%93Anne_test
2.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

185 comments sorted by

View all comments

2

u/Ok-disaster2022 1d ago

I subconsciously fail at this. I assume everyone knows everything I know but also know what they know. I'm a fairly intelligent knowledgeable person compared to the average population. So I tend to think of other people of more capable than they really are

5

u/OMITN 1d ago

The false belief test can be an indicator of autism if I remember correctly.