Theory of mind test

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Hypothetical scenario. Your name is Dr Jones and you are attending a busy science conference. You have a name badge that is clearly marked "Dr Jones" in large letters. You are standing in the room by yourself when you see another academic who you don't recognise. He approaches you. As he approaches you see his eyes moving over your name badge. When he gets close to you he smiles and asks "Dr Jones?"

How are you most likely to react?

a) You see his eyes moving over your badge, but you don't know what that means. When he asks "Dr Jones?" you answer yes to his question because you think that he is seeking information.

b) You see his eyes moving over your badge, and you realise that means he read your badge. However, you think he may be unsure about who you are. Perhaps he thinks you accidentally picked up the wrong badge, or maybe he thinks you are wearing the badge as a joke. You answer yes to the question because you think that he is seeking information.

c) You see his eyes moving over your badge, and you realise that he read your badge and knows you are Dr Jones. You are therefore confused as to why he is asking the question. You look at him in a strange way for a bit, which comes across as a bit rude. You then remember that you should be polite to people, and answer his question. You assume he is seeking information, but that he must be a bit stupid.

d) You see his eyes moving over the badge, and you realise that he read your badge and knows you are Dr Jones. You realise that he is not looking for information, but instead is looking for a way of opening a converstion with you while at the same time acknowledging who you are. Instead of answering his question, you smile at him and say "hello".

C : p

My reaction would be closest to a, I suppose, with a bit of the reasoning of d; I would answer "yes" to his question, even though I know that the answer is self-evident, to confirm that Dr. Jones is what I wish to be called and that his pronunciation of the name is correct; it is possible that Dr. Jones would prefer to be called by his first name, and stating the name as a question would give Dr. Jones the chance to reply with "Please, call me Daniel" or something of the sort. One would also assume that him repeating the name may be a way to confirm its pronunciation; it is possible that the spelling "Jones" may correspond to the pronunication "Jo-knee" or "Jo-ney" in another culture, and it is polite to establish the correct pronunciation before one uses it in conversation. I would acknowledge, though, that the entire purpose of him establishing my name would be to engage in conversation and would thus prepare myself to do so.

I can't fit myself into this hypothetical situation, I presume that means I get an F.

Now that I know NTs, I know it's d. But before, i.e. for half a century, I would've been sure he's trying to mock me or something, and I would've answered in a mocking way, thereby getting him angry.

I'm assuming the answer is D, but I would probably still answer something stupid like "Yes, that's me" instead of "Hello" because in the moment I don't usually think of all of that social pragmatics stuff and just answer with the first thing that occurs to me. Which would be to answer the immediate question, so I'd probably end up with a situation like A.

I'm finding these alternatives rather a bit too equivocal, but my closest answer would probably be A (there was some plausibility for D). If I was envisaging myself within such a prestigious business environment, I'd consider myself to be highly amenable and solicitous towards anyone attempting to converse with me (i.e. another person calling my name to demand for information as such), just for the sake of formalism as-well as trying to emulate behavior that is construable as "good manners" within a conventional area.

None of the above. I'd probably be a little uncomfortable and not necessarily say anything. I'd probably respond with eye contact and nodding my head to prompt him to ask a question.

I'd say 'D'. Knowing me, I'd answer with some remark like, "in the flesh."

That's what I'd do too. Then I'd try to read his tag and say "And you're Dr. Brown, I see."

my first response would be "C", but during my trained response-delay, i would realise it most likely was "D" and act as written there.

however, this assumes i noticed the other person looking at my badge, which i probarbly didn't.
if i am by myself i dont really look at other people, and i rarely look at eyes at all.
in reality, i would think he didn't see the badge and, depending on how his voice sounded, either acknowledge his question (assuming he got my name somehow) or respond annoyed becouse he could have read...

My answer would be A but after careful consideration I would think D is the one you're supposed to give.

A. He asked me a question and I answered "yes".
I don't think about why he looked at the badge or why he asked me. I'm just answering his question.

D does seem like the correct way to answer if you take the time to think about it, but answering "yes" should get you the same results.

I would hate being in the situation of standing by myself in a large room. If I were in that situation, I would probably be thinking about the next seminar I was going to attend (perhaps reading through conference materials). Or, deciding if I had time to walk around and look at the exhibits.

At that moment, if someone approached me, I would probably be slightly startled (that someone is coming up to me, saying my name).

The following thoughts would go through my mind:
- How does he know who I am? Oh, that’s right, I have a name badge on.
- Who is this person? Do I recognize him? Why is he approaching me?

Uncertain who this was and why they were approaching me, I would simply respond "Uh...hello". And, wait for them to explain why they came up to me.

I likely wouldn't even notice him (let alone the fact that he was looking at me/my name badge) ...but assuming that I did notice him, and further noticed him looking at me/my name badge, my answer is:

e) I see him looking in the direction of my chest/shirt and wonder what he's looking at -- I don't clue in to the fact that he is looking at my name badge and I have probably forgotten I am even wearing it. (Later, when I take the name badge off, I might remember the peculiar interaction with the strange man and realize he was looking at my chest/shirt because there was a name badge on it.) When he says, "Dr. Jones?" I am curious about why he's speaking to me do but I do not guess (couldn't if I wanted to because there wouldn't be enough time). All I know is he wants my attention so I give it to him: I either say "Yes? / That's me. / Hmmm? / What? [whichever comes to mind]" or I just look at him and wait for him to continue.