A Theory-of-Mind Approach to Empathy-Related Phenomena

Research Project

Project/Area Number	20520345
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Section	一般
Research Field	Linguistics
Research Institution	Hokkaido University
Principal Investigator	YAMADA Yoshihiro Hokkaido University, 大学院・メディア・コミュニケーション研究院, 教授 (40200761)
Project Period (FY)	2008 – 2010
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 2010)
Budget Amount *help	¥2,470,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥570,000) Fiscal Year 2010: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2009: ¥650,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000、Indirect Cost: ¥150,000) Fiscal Year 2008: ¥1,170,000 (Direct Cost: ¥900,000、Indirect Cost: ¥270,000)
Keywords	心の理論 / 視点
Research Abstract	The present research aims to find out how our mind-reading capability, which is referred to as "a theory of mind" in the field of developmental psychology, affects our ways of communication by focusing on empirical data relevant to "the speaker's empathy," i.e. the speaker's point of view. Our hypothesis is that the point of view upon which we depend when we recognize the world has been changing in a radical manner as the information era progresses, which has strong influence on our present style of communication. I have explored consequences of the hypothesis on the basis of empathy-related phenomena.