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Know Thy Selves: Learning to Understand Oneself Increases the Ability to Understand Others
Anne Böckler1,2, Lukas Herrmann1, Fynn-Mathis Trautwein1
11Department of Social Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Science, Stephanstraße 1, 04103 Leipzig, Germany.
Summary
Improving self-understanding through contemplative training enhances social intelligence. Participants who better identified their inner parts showed greater improvements in Theory of Mind (ToM) skills.
Area of Science:
- Psychology
- Neuroscience
- Social Cognition
Background:
- Theory of Mind (ToM) is essential for social interaction and can be improved through mental training.
- Understanding oneself may play a role in enhancing the ability to understand others.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if training-induced self-understanding enhances Theory of Mind (ToM) in healthy adults.
- To explore the relationship between self-perspective-taking and social intelligence.
Main Methods:
- A 3-month contemplative training program focused on perspective-taking of inner states.
- Participants identified and classified different inner personality aspects, inspired by the Internal Family Systems model.
- Two independent samples (N=80, N=81) participated in the longitudinal study.
Main Results:
- Improved self-understanding, measured by the number of identified inner parts, predicted enhanced ToM performance.
- A strong correlation was found between the number of identified negative inner parts and improved ToM capacities.
- This suggests a link between self-awareness and social intelligence.
Conclusions:
- Contemplative training focusing on self-understanding can significantly improve social intelligence.
- Enhanced ability to identify and understand one's own inner states is linked to better Theory of Mind.
- These findings highlight the importance of introspection for social cognitive development.
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