The Sally Anne test

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So I just read about the Sally Anne test, which apparently is supposed to judge whether one has cognitive empathy (the ability to see something from another's perspective). It can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjkTQtggLH4

I find it hard to believe that anyone could fail this test - even if one can't see things from Sally's perspective, pure logic of who has seen what should still be enough to be able to pass the test. Maybe 5-year-olds can't do the pure logic, so at that age it becomes a test of pure cognitive empathy?

Maybe I'm failing some variant of the Sally Anne test because I can't see things from the perspective of someone who can't pass the Sally Anne test?

I almost failed the Sally-Anne test . It took me a few minutes to figure it out. This is my thought process that I used to figure it out, if you're interested.

My first thought was that, duh, she would look in Anne's box because it is in there. Then I stopped the video for a second, and I thought to myself. I then remembered that this was a test, so it probably wouldn't be as simple as that. This was a test of empathy. Seeing things from another person's perspective. I then connected all this together and remembered that Sally had put the ball (or whatever it was) in her box, not Anne's, so I finally figured out that she would look in her own box.

I agree that most people over the age of 10 would be able to figure this out. The test was meant to see if autistic children (sometimes adults) could see different perspectives and realize other people have thoughts (and actions) of their own. Many people argue that autistic people have empathy, and I wholeheartedly agree. I do think, however, that we have a harder time reading the cues and responding appropriately. I have a lot of affective empathy, but I have to know that you're feeling an emotion in order to show it, and then I have to respond correctly. It's quite hard, to be honest!

The Sally Anne test is a first order test which examines alleged impairments in ToM. These tests become increasingly difficult as they progress, as an example the second order Ice Cream Van test through to more advanced tests such as the 12 strange tales. Children with classic autism often fail the test, I have seen this with my own eyes, however many children with classic autism do pass the test, over 20% in fact. Children with Downs were used as the control in the first set of research studies and did considerably better than autistic children. NT children usually develop ToM as defined by NT researchers by the age of 6. The early studies were primarily the work of Uta Frith and Simon Baron Cohen.

However there are some factors which need to be taken into consideration. Firstly poor excetutive functioning comes into play, having the working memory to remember the sequence which is being explained and to hold the information for long enough to solve the problem. Its worth pointing out here when I have explained both the Sally Anne test and the second order Ice Cream Van test they also struggled but got there in the end. Uta Frith and Fran Happe both believe that some revision of ToM is required and have believed so for a number of years. Current thinking is that ToM does develop, its just that in some children there is a delay, 5 to 6 years in its development but thats much depend of the verbal/mental age of the child in question.

I could talk about this stuff all day given a chance, I told you I was an autism geek

Uuuu....what's ToM?

I am good at seeing things from other people's perspectives, it's rather natural to me. But when I last looked at the Sally Anne test, for some reason I was staring at the box, expecting the person answering (on the video) to point to it, then when they pointed to the correct one (the basket) I was like "oh yeah".

Don't know what that was all about, unless I just wasn't paying attention at the time.

That test is for young children and children with ASD don't "fail it", they just tend to pass it at a later age. It tests the age that theory of mind starts to develop which is one of the milestones in development and autistic people tend to hit this milestone later.

Any adult failing the test must be severely mentally handicapped.

Thats not what meant. The bit about any one failing Sally Anne having a mental handicap. I delivered National Autistic Society SPELL training for care staff for a couple of years when I worked for a charity, of ouse I covered Sally Anne when doing my section on ToM. You would be amazed how many people struggled to remember the sequence of events which leads to the correct conclusion, If you can use two dolls and do it for real its easier, but even then I have seen people think about it. Perhaps they think there is a trick or some kind of dodge and they over think it. Try explaining the some of the 12 strange tales to them. Thats why I think they are of little value, I think they often tell more about someones ability to retain information than it does about predicting events or intentions. I used to religiously believe theory mind development, now I have my doubts, but hey, just my opinion.

I, probably, would have been confused about the whole thing as a young child.

My husband failed this test. He was 50 at the time, and thought to was unfair.