What age did you become aware of other people's minds?

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I always had some awareness that other people had minds but never really thought of it. I remember sitting in "the lost world jurassic park " in 1997 at a movie theter when I was 4 years old and looking at one of my parents and thinking something like "he/she (dont remember if it was dad or mom) are seeing the same thing i am, they have a mind too, independent of mine" and i could imagine what they were thinking ,etc." and I know that at that time, i was aware that other people had minds. I actually thought this was a unique ability, specific to me (i did not know i had aspergers at the time and was actually likely deficient in these tasks, oh the irony).

I also could give my stuffed animals a "mind" up to at least the age of 2. But this time back when i was 4 years old is the first time that i remember actually thinking abstractly about the concept of mind,etc.

when i was 4 though, i became confused . i mean i knew the stuffed animals were not alive, and did not have actual eyes, but i kept wondering what they could see, trying to imagine what it was like to be something that had no eyes or brain. because the idea that my stuffed animal had a mind was firmly sitted in my mind by that time.


Isnt this a theory of mind? How do they say aspies lack a theory of mind?

I was 7 years old - something 'clicked' at that age that saw a lot of changes, where as before other people were like inanimate objects I had to occasionally have some sort of basic interaction with, at this age I suddenly realised other people were like me with minds and feelings. As for toys, I never considered them like people, although they had very complex relationships during play.

Yes, essentially theory of mind impairment is being unable to recognise that others have a mind.

Around either Kindergarten or 1st grade... or sometime shortly after. So somewhere around the ages of 5 to 7? I had no idea before then that other people were sentient beings and had a different way of thinking. I was so clueless about other people that once, when an older boy asked me for my name, I kept silent and thought to myself, "Is he that stupid? It's so easy to guess!", since I thought other people thought the same way and had the same thoughts. Therefore, they would have known my name beforehand.

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My nephew Coke needs to eat! Obviously we're related.

I can't remember NOT knowing that other people had minds.
Very strange ones, too.

I've never thought of it in terms of "theory of mind", but I was very manipulative as a child. I got away with whatever I could, and didn't really feel bad about it. I think that this is because I saw people as "means" and not as "ends". I think I must have been about seven when I realised that everyone is just like me, thrown into a confusing world and always forced to act on faith and imperfect information. I learned the value of being kind to people and letting other people get what they want.

Yeah, like 7, but i had skipped a grade so it was like 3rd or 4th grade.

But i didnt really consider other peoples feelings like i did my own till a couple months ago

23 or so

I was a little late to the party there. Still don't feel real to me now though.

It seems a grey area for me personally, as I don't quite remember what I thought other people were
I believe I'm aware of everything now, and have been for the past 3-4 years.

I was always AWARE of other people's minds; I just believe other people's minds to all be my enemy, and I think they all think in a way that they want me to act in a certain fashion or that the people who want me to act in a certain fashion are all watching me.

They say Aspies lack a theory of mind because "They" selectively apply standards of empathetic ability onto those of a non-neurotypical experience.

I'm forced every day to admit the validity of and conform to the demands of a world based on an NT way of being,
yet never in an NT's callous treatment of me would they be said to lack TOM.


It's ludicrous.

In my head it was always, "if i got it why dont they get it". I still remember even in college i would wait for someone to ask the question that was in my head. If no one asked means my question came in their head and was ignored so i should also ignore it.

Now when i think about it, it is like i believed that everybody was same and everybody got things at the same time. I think the concept of people having different abilities than me began around teens, till in my late 20ies when i consciously started to realise that others heads were different.

too late in my life at around 30 age when i had lost my job, broke, lost important relationships
i realised i lost it all due to the mindgames of people rather then my own doing

8 or 9 I think.

I didn't care about playing with anyone until the 4th grade (Id skipped a grade), and then I realized I didn't know how to.

I was about 13 or 14 when I realised it in terms of "Oh my god... these people all have independent thoughts and feelings and personalities that shape their perception of the world. They're thinking and feeling things RIGHT NOW and they're still thinking and feeling things even when I'm not there, because I don't have access to other people's minds". And for a while after that I got quite paranoid because I then realised there was no way for me to know what people were thinking or feeling without them telling me, and for all I knew they could've been planning on hurting me. To be honest, sometimes it is still a bit difficult to understand that other people have minds too. Logically I know that they must, but trying to actually visualise what somebody might be thinking about or feeling is really strange.

For as long as I can remember, I think. Maybe. I don't have good memories of when I was younger than 4.