Successful Cooperation Depends on Good 'Mindreading' Abilities

Researchers at the University of Birmingham found that people with strong mind reading abilities -- the ability to understand and take the perspective of another person's feelings and intentions- are more successful in cooperating to complete tasks than people with weaker mind reading abilities.

These qualities, also called 'theory of mind', are not necessarily related to intelligence and could be improved through training programmes to foster improved cooperation, for example in the workplace or in schools and colleges.

Players who had high theory of mind (ToM) abilities and who were matched with people who had similarly high ToM scores cooperated more effectively than players matched with low ToM abilities. The researchers suggest that this is because of a heightened ability to align in the same mental space and to recover rapidly when misalignment occurs.

Similarly, the researchers found that failures in cooperation were more common among participants with low ToM abilities. They suggest this is because these participants found it harder to find ways to align their thinking, leading to more frequent mistakes, and poorer recovery from mistakes.

Source: sciencedaily.co