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 their future atti­tudes and actions.

Here we go:

Theory of Mind: A Blessing and a Curse

A “PR super­power” is ima­gin­ing one­self in anoth­er person’s situ­ation and reas­on­ing from their perspective. 

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.

However, a strong the­ory of mind can also be a stressor.

Despite our best or worst efforts, PR work involves a del­ic­ate bal­ance between suc­cess and failure. 

As PR and com­mu­nic­a­tions pro­fes­sion­als, we must always con­sider what oth­ers think and feel. Our emphat­ic com­mu­nic­a­tion skills might make us more sus­cept­ible to emo­tion­al stress.

If emphat­ic pres­sure is allowed to build for long peri­ods of time, 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

A Brief History of Theory of Mind

The concept of 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 have dis­covered that chil­dren begin to under­stand that people have dif­fer­ent thoughts and feel­ings based on their unique per­spect­ives and exper­i­ences around age four. ³Theory 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.

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 ⁴Ribeiro, 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

“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 ⁵Theory 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

Enhancing aware­ness of this concept could improve com­mu­nic­a­tion skills. 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:

Boost Your Theory of Mind

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

References: Reading List

Apperly, I. A. (2011). Mindreaders: The cog­nit­ive basis of “Theory of Mind”. Psychology Press.

Baron-Cohen, S., Leslie, A. M., & Frith, U. (1985). Does the aut­ist­ic child have a “the­ory of mind”? Cognition, 21(1), 37 – 46.

Premack, D., & Woodruff, G. (1978). Does the chim­pan­zee have a the­ory of mind? Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 1(4), 515 – 526.

THANKS FOR READING.
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Psychology in Public Relations

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• The Engagement Pyramid (The 90−9−1 Principle)
• 150 — Dunbar’s Number
• Theory of Mind: A PR Superpower
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• The Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon: Heard About It Before?
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