The predator-avoidance effect: an evolved constraint on emerging theory of mind

The present research examined whether children's ability to impute false belief is overridden or impaired by content that activates an early-developing, prepotent motivational system: predator avoidance. In three studies, children aged 3 to 8 years completed variants of a false-belief test, including analogous predator-avoidance and playmate-avoidances scenarios, in which passing the test meant having the focal character get caught by the pursuer. The proportion of correct answers in the playmate-avoidance scenario was reliably greater than in the predator-avoidance scenario, though this effect largely dissipated by 7 to 8 years of age. Enhanced predatory stimuli significantly increased the frequency of false-belief errors in the predator-avoidance scenario (Study 3). Analysis of children's justifications revealed that predator-avoidance false-belief errors were overwhelming motivated by a desire for the prey to avoid the predator (Study 2). The predator-avoidance effect was not an artifact of children generally performing better in playmate than predator-prey scenarios (Studies 1 and 3), the predator-avoidance scenario simply evoking strong emotions (Study 3), or differences between children in their knowledge of predator-prey relationships (Study 1) or executive-function abilities (Study 2). Findings support the hypothesis that activation of the predator-avoidance system generates prepotent response patterns that impair or override full consideration of the mental states of the prey characters in false-belief stories.