Know Thy Selves: Learning to Understand Oneself Increases the Ability to Understand Others

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Authors

  • Anne Boeckler
  • Lukas Herrmann
  • Fynn-Mathis Trautwein
  • Tom Holmes
  • Tania Singer

External Research Organisations

  • Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science (MPI CBS)
  • Julius Maximilian University of Würzburg
  • Western Michigan University
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Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)197-209
Number of pages13
JournalJOURNAL OF COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT
Volume1
Issue number2
Early online date16 May 2017
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2017
Externally publishedYes

Abstract

Understanding others’ feelings, intentions, and beliefs is a crucial social skill both for our personal lives and for meeting the challenges of a globalized world. Recent evidence suggests that the ability to represent and infer others’ mental states (Theory of Mind, ToM) can be enhanced by mental training in healthy adults. The present study investigated the role of training-induced understanding of oneself for the enhanced understanding of others. In a large-scale longitudinal study, two independent participant samples (N = 80 and N = 81) received a 3-month contemplative training. This training focused on perspective taking and was inspired by the Internal Family Systems model that conceives the self as being composed of a complex system of inner personality aspects. Specifically, participants practiced perspective taking on their own inner states by learning to identify and classify different inner personality parts. Results revealed that the degree to which participants improved their understanding of themselves—reflected in the number of different inner parts they could identify—predicted their improvements in high-level ToM performance over training. Especially the number of identified parts that were negatively valenced showed a strong relation with enhanced ToM capacities. This finding suggests a close link between getting better in understanding oneself and improvement in social intelligence.

Keywords

    Internal Family System, Theory of Mind, Self, Inner parts, Contemplative mental training

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Cite this

Know Thy Selves: Learning to Understand Oneself Increases the Ability to Understand Others. / Boeckler, Anne; Herrmann, Lukas; Trautwein, Fynn-Mathis et al.
In: JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT, Vol. 1, No. 2, 06.2017, p. 197-209.

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleResearchpeer review

Boeckler, A, Herrmann, L, Trautwein, F-M, Holmes, T & Singer, T 2017, 'Know Thy Selves: Learning to Understand Oneself Increases the Ability to Understand Others', JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 197-209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0023-6
Boeckler, A., Herrmann, L., Trautwein, F.-M., Holmes, T., & Singer, T. (2017). Know Thy Selves: Learning to Understand Oneself Increases the Ability to Understand Others. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT, 1(2), 197-209. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-017-0023-6
Boeckler A, Herrmann L, Trautwein FM, Holmes T, Singer T. Know Thy Selves: Learning to Understand Oneself Increases the Ability to Understand Others. JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT. 2017 Jun;1(2):197-209. Epub 2017 May 16. doi: 10.1007/s41465-017-0023-6
Boeckler, Anne ; Herrmann, Lukas ; Trautwein, Fynn-Mathis et al. / Know Thy Selves: Learning to Understand Oneself Increases the Ability to Understand Others. In: JOURNAL OF COGNITIVE ENHANCEMENT. 2017 ; Vol. 1, No. 2. pp. 197-209.
Download
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title = "Know Thy Selves: Learning to Understand Oneself Increases the Ability to Understand Others",
abstract = "Understanding others{\textquoteright} feelings, intentions, and beliefs is a crucial social skill both for our personal lives and for meeting the challenges of a globalized world. Recent evidence suggests that the ability to represent and infer others{\textquoteright} mental states (Theory of Mind, ToM) can be enhanced by mental training in healthy adults. The present study investigated the role of training-induced understanding of oneself for the enhanced understanding of others. In a large-scale longitudinal study, two independent participant samples (N = 80 and N = 81) received a 3-month contemplative training. This training focused on perspective taking and was inspired by the Internal Family Systems model that conceives the self as being composed of a complex system of inner personality aspects. Specifically, participants practiced perspective taking on their own inner states by learning to identify and classify different inner personality parts. Results revealed that the degree to which participants improved their understanding of themselves—reflected in the number of different inner parts they could identify—predicted their improvements in high-level ToM performance over training. Especially the number of identified parts that were negatively valenced showed a strong relation with enhanced ToM capacities. This finding suggests a close link between getting better in understanding oneself and improvement in social intelligence.",
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