Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 12, 2025
06:53
Creating Virtual-hand and Virtual-face Illusions to Investigate Self-representation
Published on: March 1, 2017
13.4K
Is Mind-Reading Involved in Ownership Judgments?
Réka Blazsek1, Christophe Heintz1
1Department of Cognitive Science, Central European University.
Cognitive Science
|August 5, 2025
Summary
People determine ownership by inferring others' intentions and beliefs, a process called mind-reading. This capacity, rather than morality, shapes judgments about who rightfully possesses what.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Psychology
- Social Psychology
- Behavioral Economics
Background:
- Existing research highlights psychological and behavioral factors in ownership judgments.
- The role of mental state attribution (mind-reading) in ownership has been underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if ownership judgments depend on mind-reading abilities.
- To examine how contextual cues, beliefs about permissibility, and social norms influence ownership perceptions.
Main Methods:
- Three online experiments (N=1246) using vignette-based scenarios.
- Tested sensitivity of ownership judgments to variations in social and moral information.
- Assessed the relationship between ownership judgments and moral judgments.
Main Results:
- Ownership judgments were sensitive to variations in contextual cues, beliefs, and social norms.
- Ownership judgments did not consistently track moral judgments.
- Mind-reading provides a strong explanation for observed ownership judgments.
Conclusions:
- Ownership judgments are significantly influenced by the capacity to infer others' mental states.
- Ownership is best understood as a social phenomenon concerning relationships about resources, not just people and resources.
- Mind-reading is a key component in establishing and understanding ownership.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
01:37Reason and Intuition
6.9K
The human brain processes information for decision-making using one of two routes: an intuitive system and a rational system (Epstein, 1994; popularized by Kahneman, 2011 as System 1 and System 2, respectively). The intuitive system is quick, impulsive, and operates with minimal effort, relying on emotions or habits to provide cues for what to do next, while the rational system is logical, analytical, deliberate, and methodical. Research in neuropsychology suggests that the...
6.9K
01:20Lazarus's Cognitive Appraisal Theory
529
Cognitive psychologist Richard Lazarus proposed the cognitive-mediational theory of emotions, which emphasizes how individuals' assessments of stressors significantly affect their experience of stress. According to Lazarus, the stress response is determined by a two-step appraisal process: primary appraisal and secondary appraisal. These cognitive appraisals help individuals evaluate the potential impact of a stressor and determine the adequacy of their coping resources.
Primary Appraisal:...
Primary Appraisal:...
529
01:25The Anchoring-and-Adjustment Heuristic
7.4K
In order to make good decisions, we use our knowledge and our reasoning. Often, this knowledge and reasoning is sound and solid. However, sometimes, we are swayed by biases or by others manipulating a situation. For example, let’s say you and three friends wanted to rent a house and had a combined target budget of $1,600. The realtor shows you only very run-down houses for $1,600 and then shows you a very nice house for $2,000. Might you ask each person to pay more in rent to get the...
7.4K
02:13The Representativeness Heuristic
16.2K
The representative heuristic describes a biased way of thinking, in which you unintentionally stereotype someone or something. For example, you may assume that your professors spend their free time reading books and engaging in intellectual conversation, because the idea of them spending their time playing volleyball or visiting an amusement park does not fit in with your stereotypes of professors.
16.2K
02:55Stereotypes, Prejudice, and Discrimination
91.5K
Humans are very diverse and although we share many similarities, we also have many differences. The social groups we belong to help form our identities (Tajfel, 1974). These differences may be difficult for some people to reconcile, which may lead to prejudice toward people who are different. Prejudice is a negative attitude and feeling toward an individual based solely on one’s membership in a particular social group (Allport, 1954; Brown, 2010). Prejudice is common against people who...
91.5K
00:56Attribution Theory
13.4K
Behavior is a product of both the situation (e.g., cultural influences, social roles, and the presence of bystanders) and of the person (e.g., personality characteristics). Subfields of psychology tend to focus on one influence or behavior over others. Situationism is the view that our behavior and actions are determined by our immediate environment and surroundings. In contrast, dispositionism holds that our behavior is determined by internal factors (Heider, 1958).
13.4K