The false-belief task is a well-structured instrument used to assess the development of the ‘theory of mind’ concept; it denotes having the ability to understand that other people may believe something that differs both from the facts and what the individual knows personally.
An example would be the Sally-Anne task where a child is said to follow what a character ‘Sally’ would think and say when a toy is moved from one point to another even when she is not aware of the movement. The child would pass the test if he or she could understand that Sally believes the toy is still where she left it.
Research indicates that most children pass the appearing/ disappearing test at the age of four, which indicates a critical point of development within social cognition. False-belief tasks tend to be one of the most commonly referred to, which indicate of a person having autism. These criteria are linked to a person’s ability to take perspectives and are commonly used within the discipline of psychology focusing on the development of children. These children are able to explain other’s behavior in terms of mental states.