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Theory of Mind as a Pedagogical Tool

Zunshine demonstrates how a cognitive narratological perspective on theory of mind (i.e., our evolved cognitive capacity to see people’s observable behavior in terms of their underlying mental states, such as thoughts, feelings, desires, and intentions) offers an instructor a new tool for collaborative classroom exploration of representations of fictional consciousness. In particular, Zunshine tells of her experience of asking students to write up “missing” passages from Edith Wharton’s short story “Xingu,” following their discussion of the story’s construction of social minds, an approach that draws on theoretical perspectives that either directly represent theory of mind (Zunshine’s “sociocognitive complexity” and Alan Palmer’s “intermental thinking”) or are highly compatible with it (Suzanne Keen’s “strategic empathizing”). Having used research on theory of mind to teach a wide range of texts on both graduate and undergraduate levels, Zunshine centers her article on the immediate classroom payoffs of this approach as well as its relationship with other, more established pedagogical strategies.