Theory of Mind: A PR Superpower

Theory of mind is a super­power in pub­lic relations.

The abil­ity to com­pre­hend the thoughts and emo­tions of oth­ers holds trans­form­at­ive poten­tial in pub­lic rela­tions. By grasp­ing the intric­a­cies of people’s inner worlds, one can gauge one’s future atti­tudes and actions.

A com­mu­nic­at­or with a strong the­ory of mind can men­tally sim­u­late a tar­get audi­ence’s reac­tions, objec­tions, emo­tions, and thought pro­cesses. This is poten­tially valu­able in PR, per­sua­sion, storytelling, or crisis management. 

For a com­mu­nic­at­or, the­ory of mind could be the dif­fer­ence between shout­ing into the void and whis­per­ing dir­ectly into someone’s intern­al monologue.

Here we go:

Theory of Mind: A Blessing and a Curse

A “PR super­power” is the abil­ity to ima­gine one­self in anoth­er person’s situ­ation and reas­on from their perspective.

Those with strong empath­ic skills can recog­nise hid­den motives and emo­tion­al sub­texts behind sur­face beha­viour. They can anti­cip­ate escal­a­tion before it occurs, inter­cept mis­com­mu­nic­a­tions early, and act with stra­tegic empathy. 

Such skills are crit­ic­al in media train­ing, nego­ti­ations, and crisis response, where under­stand­ing inten­tion is as import­ant as what is said.

The term “the­ory of mind” was first coined by Premack and Woodruff (1978) and referred to people’s thoughts and reas­on­ing about their minds and those of oth­ers. The assump­tion that we need a the­ory for our thoughts is called intro­spec­tion. ¹Theory of mind. (2023, December 4). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​T​h​e​o​r​y​_​o​f​_​m​ind ²Schwitzgebel, E. (2019). Introspection (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Stanford​.edu. https://​pla​to​.stan​ford​.edu/​e​n​t​r​i​e​s​/​i​n​t​r​o​s​p​e​c​t​i​on/

The the­ory of mind is the abil­ity to attrib­ute men­tal states — thoughts, intents, desires, pre­ten­sions, and world-views — to one­self and oth­ers and to under­stand how those men­tal states influ­ence behaviour.

This form of empathy is a crit­ic­al devel­op­ment­al skill that helps chil­dren exper­i­ence empathy and under­stand oth­er people’s feel­ings and inten­tions. ³Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the aut­ist­ic child have a “the­ory of mind”? Cognition, 21(1), 37 – 46. ⁴Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chim­pan­zee have a the­ory of mind? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(4), 515 – 526.

In a way, the the­ory of mind is the psy­cho­lo­gic­al anti­thes­is to the philo­soph­ic­al idea of sol­ipsism:

Solipsism = the philo­soph­ic­al idea that only one’s own mind is sure to exist and that know­ledge of any­thing out­side the self is ulti­mately unknowable.

A Brief History of Theory of Mind

The the­ory of mind was first intro­duced in the 1970s by devel­op­ment­al psy­cho­lo­gists study­ing how chil­dren under­stand oth­ers’ beliefs, inten­tions, and emotions.

Through vari­ous exper­i­ments, research­ers dis­covered that chil­dren begin to under­stand that people have dif­fer­ent thoughts and feel­ings based on their unique per­spect­ives and exper­i­ences around age four. ⁵Theory of mind. (2023, April 21). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​T​h​e​o​r​y​_​o​f​_​m​ind

As the study of the the­ory evolved, research­ers found that it plays a cru­cial role in social cog­ni­tion and inter­per­son­al rela­tion­ships. It enables us to pre­dict and inter­pret oth­ers’ actions, empath­ise, and com­mu­nic­ate effect­ively. ⁶Apperly, I. A. (2011). Mindreaders: The cog­nit­ive basis of “Theory of Mind”. Psychology Press.

Today, the the­ory of mind is con­sidered an essen­tial aspect of human inter­ac­tion, which can bene­fit PR pro­fes­sion­als in numer­ous ways.

“Poor the­ory of mind skills lead to pref­er­en­tial atten­tion to neg­at­ive facial expres­sions in inter­per­son­al inter­ac­tions, poten­tially due to vigil­ance for threat.”
Source: Scandinavian Journal of Psychology ⁷Ribeiro, L., & Fearon, P. (2010). Theory of mind and atten­tion­al bias to facial emo­tion­al expres­sions: a pre­lim­in­ary study. Scandinavian journ­al of psy­cho­logy, 51 4, 285 – 9. … Continue read­ing

Theory of Mind in Public Relations

A bet­ter under­stand­ing of oth­er people’s inner worlds could improve any­one’s com­mu­nic­a­tion skills. 

“In psy­cho­logy, the­ory of mind refers to the capa­city to under­stand oth­er people by ascrib­ing men­tal states to them (that is, sur­mising what is hap­pen­ing in their mind). This includes the know­ledge that oth­ers’ men­tal states may be dif­fer­ent from one’s own states and include beliefs, desires, inten­tions, emo­tions, and thoughts.”
Source: Wikipedia ⁸Theory of mind. (2023, November 28). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​T​h​e​o​r​y​_​o​f​_​m​ind

PR pro­fes­sion­als and com­mu­nic­at­ors with a strong the­ory of mind can bet­ter under­stand their audi­ence, cre­ate more com­pel­ling mes­sages, and build last­ing relationships.

Here are some real-life situ­ations where the the­ory can make a dif­fer­ence for PR professionals:

Boost Your Theory of Mind

To improve your the­ory of mind as a PR pro­fes­sion­al, con­sider these priorities:

Beware of Empathic Stress

As PR and com­mu­nic­a­tions pro­fes­sion­als, we must always con­sider what oth­ers think and feel. Our empath­ic com­mu­nic­a­tion skills can poten­tially make us more sus­cept­ible to emo­tion­al stress. ⁹Silfwer, J. (2022, January 27). PR and Mental Health Problems. Doctor Spin | the PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​m​e​n​t​a​l​-​h​e​a​l​t​h​-​p​r​o​b​l​e​ms/

Alas, a strong the­ory of mind can be a stressor.

The the­ory of mind might res­ult in empath­ic res­on­ance, which absorbs the emo­tion­al states of oth­ers. For example, you may inter­n­al­ise a client’s shame dur­ing a media crisis, a journalist’s frus­tra­tion dur­ing an inter­view, or a colleague’s anxi­ety before a launch. Over time, this becomes a low-grade, per­sist­ent form of vicari­ous trauma.

If emphat­ic pres­sure is allowed to build for long peri­ods, vari­ous men­tal health prob­lems might follow.

“I always thought burnout happened when you work too much. Now I get it. It’s invest­ing emo­tion­ally and not get­ting a return on that invest­ment.”
— @spamap

Read also: Theory of Mind: A Superpower for PR Professionals

THANKS FOR READING.
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Psychology in Public Relations

• Logical Fallacies and Cognitive Biases
• Cognitive Dissonance
• Survivorship Bias 
• Theory of Mind: A PR Superpower
• The Amplification Hypothesis
• The Online Brain Hypothesis
• The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon: Heard About It Before?
• The Halo Effect
• The Paradox of Prominence
• Parkinson’s Law & The Law of Triviality (Bike Shed Effect)

Group Psychology

• Social Group Sizes (The Social Brain Hypothesis)
• The Pitfalls of Groupthink
• The Engagement Pyramid
• 150 — Dunbar’s Number
• Seriality (Context Matters)
• Diffusion of Innovations
• The Bystander Effect

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