About the Project
Many researchers claim theory of mind is present in infancy. So how come 3-year-olds have difficulty saying where someone is looking from eye direction alone (Doherty & Anderson, 1999)? The aim of this PhD is to explore how explicit gaze judgement and explicit theory of mind abilities relate. The hypothesis is that theory of mind developments around 4 years are new and qualitatively different from what infants are able to do. This specifies the general topic: applicants should provide a more specific proposal after discussion with me.
For more information on the supervisor for this project, please go here: https://people.uea.ac.uk/martin_doherty
This is a PhD programme.
The start date of this project is October 2020.
The mode of study is full-time/part-time. Studentship length is 3 years for a full-time student and 6 years for a part-time student.
Funding Notes
This PhD project is in a School of Psychology competition for funded studentships. These studentships are funded for 3 years and comprise of home/EU tuition fees and an annual stipend of £15,009.
Entry requirements:
Acceptable first degree in Psychology or relevant other discipline.
The standard minimum entry requirement is 2:1.
Masters or equivalent experience.
References
i) Doherty, M. J., Anderson, J. R., & Howieson, L. (2009). The rapid development of explicit gaze judgment ability at 3 years. Journal of experimental child psychology, 104(3), 296-312.
ii) Doherty, M. J., McIntyre, A. H., & Langton, S. R. (2015). Developmentally distinct gaze processing systems: luminance versus geometric cues. Cognition, 137, 72-80.
iii) Doherty, M. J., & Anderson, J. R. (1999). A new look at gaze: Preschool children's understanding of eye-direction. Cognitive Development, 14(4), 549-571.
iv) Doherty, M. J. (2006). The development of mentalistic gaze understanding. Infant and Child Development: An International Journal of Research and Practice, 15(2), 179-186.
