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Part A

Describe the concept of ‘theory of mind’ and explain what research on this
topic can tell us about the development of altruism and co-operation in
children.

This essay will look at the concept of ‘theory of mind’ and what research on this topic
can explain about the development of altruism and co-operation in children. It will
firstly describe ‘theory of mind’ and the look at research focused on how this concept
affects the development of altruism and then co-operation.

Theory of mind id a concept in developmental psychology which explains the ability

to perceive ones own mental state and take in to account the thoughts and feelings
of others to anticipate their mental state. Understanding the feelings of others helps
to shape behaviour and social relationships by being able to predict the behaviour of
others and adjust responses and reactions as appropriate. Many psychologists have
studied this concept and suggested at what age it takes place, such as Piaget and
inhleder (1956) but this will be covered in more detail later. It is important in this case
to also understand altruism, this is having an unselfish regard for another person’s
wellbeing without any expectation of reciprocation even if this leaves the altruist at a
disadvantage.

There have been many studies done which try to discover the age in which children
develop theory of mind and an understanding into altruism and co-operation, some
of these will now be looked at in more detail. The first study seen in the video from
BBC earth lab (Open university, week 6, activity 6.2) shows babies as young as 7
months were treated to a puppet show in which characters were trying to get up a
hill, one character was helpful and one was being unhelpful The children could
clearly be seen gravitating towards the helpful character when offered the chance to
play with the puppets. This suggests that the children have an understanding of the
behaviours being displayed and can form an opinion of which character they want to
interact with. The researchers believed this showed they had developed theory of
mind and were developing an understating of altruism. Another study to consider
was carried out by Piaget and Inhelder in 1956 (Elphick, 2023, pg 172) This
experiment consisted of different age children being sat at a model mountain range
and being asked to identify the dolls point of view. This was designed to see if

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children were able to imagine something from another person’s perspective, the four-
year-olds would choose their own perspective whereas the children of around nine
years old could select the dolls viewpoint. They suggested that having an awareness
for others perspective came as children got older and this reflected their ability to
have theory of mind and understand altruism. These studies create a large age gap
in which an understanding of altruism can develop, but they do both show that
altruism is something that develops in childhood.

There are also studies which focus more on the co-operation in children and at what
point this develops. An example of this was carried out by Warnerken and Tomasello
(2007) and Warneken et al (2012 (Elphick, 2023, pg 173) they showed that children
preferred to co-operate together on projects rather than do them alone. Children as
young as 14 months would actively try to reengage a partner when working on task
together and as they got older children would become aware of upsetting their
partner if they did not want to work together anymore. This suggests that as children
grown older they are developing their theory of mind and understanding of co-
operation. The final study to consider by Hamann, Warneken and Tomasello in 2012
(Elsphick, 2023, pg 174) involves giving pairs children tasks to complete in which
they could receive a reward, the older children who were three and a half years old
would continue the task even after they received their reward so that their partner
could also be rewarded, the two and a half year olds would leave their partner once
they had their reward. This suggests that the older children had developed theory of
mind as they wanted their partner to be rewarded to, they also showed
understanding of working together, or co-operation, to ensure this happened. Both
studies prove co-operation in children but the understanding of the reason behind
co-operation develops with age.

In conclusion although all the research presented shows that without theory of mind
the children would not be able to develop an understanding of altruism and co-
operation, they co-exist together. There is confliction over the age at which children
gain this ability, probably because this is an ongoing process which happens through
out childhood and at different rates depending on the child.

Word count : 760

References

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 Elphick, C. (2023) ‘Altruism and cooperation’, in L. Lazard and A. Strathie

(eds) Encountering psychology in context 1. Milton Keynes: The Open
University, pp. 151–192.

 Elphick, C., Frances, T., Taylor, S. (2023) ‘1.2 Using experiments to

study altruism’. D120: Encountering psychology in context. Available at:
https://learn2.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?
id=2087320&section=2.2 (Accessed: 25 March 2024).

Part B

Interviewer: what are the big issues facing those working with unaccompanied
migrants?

Interviewee

In Europe and the UK, there is a criminalisation of people who provide support to
young refugees, and there have obviously been a number of famous cases in
Europe where refugees – adult and young – have been provided support by
volunteers within charities but also just generally people who are providing
solidarity, who have then been criminalised for that support that they provide. In the
UK, I am aware of there being a push by the Home Office back against the support
that some people have provided in [name of charity] to young refugees. So, there
is that element. There is obviously the fact that if you are a person who has
decided that you want to support young refugees, you can either do that as a
volunteer or you would professionalise in some way and do that as a job or a
career, so I guess there is navigating that element. I guess it is quite common
amongst all jobs in the third sector, you need to be fairly privileged to be able to
afford to volunteer in any capacity. You need to have the financial means to do that
work for free. If you are doing professional work – I don’t really have anything to
say on that, but another element is obviously, and it is a big one, an important one,
the impact of secondary trauma on volunteers, professionals. And, in my personal
capacity, I have been personally quite affected by that. I think I imagine it is more

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prevalent in people who have weaker boundaries, so maybe people who are – so I
know people who have been case workers, working with young refugees for a long
time, they have a very clear ‘this is the end of my role, this is my personal life’. I get
clinical supervision so I have monthly sessions with the clinical supervisor, that
provides some support. And, I am obviously maybe a bit of a different case, in that
I have had someone I know die which is a very traumatic event. But, I do know a
lot of people are impacted by secondary trauma, of working with young refugees.

Interviewer

I would imagine so, yes.

Interviewee

I don’t think I am going to be able to continue to do this work, for too much longer.

Interviewer

Do you think it is creating a lot of – it is demanding a lot of personal emotional

investment?

Interviewee

Yes, for sure. It is very emotionally demanding, very demanding of your time and
energy. I spend a lot of my free time just recovering from the work! And, so I guess
right now, it is quite difficult because it is not so easy to get away and have time off.
And, it has been different for me, because obviously I was previously a volunteer

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and there are very little boundaries, and right now I am professionalised and I have
become a co-ordinator (of a project to support young people) and I am the youth
worker lead for our organisation, so I have put in place those boundaries to protect
myself. I have a phone, I have time when I am working and when I am not working.
And, I try to keep things within those boundaries, but I think that it can be very
difficult, and I just know in myself that I will need to take a long period of time off
from this kind of work.

Interviewer: What impact do you think asylum and welfare rules, regulations
and resources have on your ability to care for unaccompanied minors?

Interviewee

So, what is the impact of the asylum system?

Interviewer

Yes, on your ability to do any –

Interviewee

I think it is damaging to people’s mental wellbeing, and then you are left to try and
(a) protect them from the coercive element of the system, and also protect their
mental wellbeing. So, if young people – I think the asylum system can be a
traumatising process, young people are already traumatised a lot of the time, and
so they arrive here as very vulnerable people and then the asylum system is an
additional trauma, and it can be re-traumatising. And, so then you have to try and
mount a support system for young people who are experiencing post-traumatic

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stress disorder or some other kind of mental disorder, as a consequence of them

having been treated poorly within the asylum system or within the care system. It is
something that I think about a lot, about the impact of poor decision-making within
the asylum system, or delays in the asylum system, or age disputes, poor care
within the care system – all of these things can trigger trauma and then as
supporters within the charity sector or within the voluntary sector, you are then
trying to prevent a young person from suffering from mental distress, trying to help
them to navigate that process so they don’t have a poor outcome, so they have a
positive outcome. And, it can be very challenging. You are having to advocate a lot
of the time, write some letters involving lawyers.

Interviewer

As I can imagine, that must be a main part of the work that you are doing?

Interviewee

So, I think case workers do a lot of work – when I was a case worker, I did a lot of
work around asylum claims and immigration work. I don’t do so much of that work
now. Young people who come to [name of charity] either are in the process of an
asylum claim or have their asylum. I am not often involved in that side of things,
but I do often see young people who have been age disputed. And, I do have to
deal with young people who are very stressed about their asylum – they are waiting
a long time. I have known young people who have been waiting two and a half,
three years for an asylum decision.

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