Understanding Other Intentions: Merging Evidence on Theory of Mind across Various Research Areas

Theory of mind (TOM) is a critical human skill. Without it, humans would not be able to communicate, form relationships, or understand and predict others' intentions. Much research in the area has focused on examining TOM development in young children and TOM impairments in clinical populations. However, renewed interest in the field has sparked a wave of research that examines TOM and related constructs (e.g., social cognition, mentalizing, social competence, common ground, perspective-taking) in a number of areas, including (a) changes in TOM in later adulthood, (b) individual differences in adult TOM, (c) the role of culture and language in TOM performance, (d) issues relating to TOM measurement validity and reliability, and (e) the real-world effects of individual differences in TOM.

However, this increasing amount of research is rarely shared intra- and trans-disciplinarily, leading to disjointed findings in the field and hindering progress on TOM. Accordingly, this Special Issue provided an outlet for researchers studying TOM across different psychological and related fields to share their work.